Back To the Start
by MissEmRose
Summary: My life is in shambles and I need to do something before it falls apart completely. So what do I do? I decide to go back to the start. -NILEY-
1. Back To the Start

**Back To the Start**

_Nobody said it was easy,  
No one ever said it would be this hard.  
Oh, take me back to the start._

I push the massive Gucci sunglasses onto my face and keep my head down as I walk out of Starbucks with my caramel latte.

_Keep your head down, Miley, _I tell myself, _don't look up no matter what._

Suddenly, a flash goes off from nowhere, catching me off guard and making me look up. It's them, the paparazzi.

"Hey, it is her, it's Miley Cyrus!" I hear one of them yell.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

"Miley, is it true that your engagement with Liam has broken off?"

"Was it because you were too possessive?"

"Miley, could you just give us one picture?"

"Did Liam think you were holding him back from his career?"

"Have you spoken to Liam since then?"

"If you could say one thing to Liam now, what would it be?"

Questions are shooting and flashes are going off from everywhere, and my head is spinning. Where the _hell _did they come from, and how did they know I'd be here? I can't deal with them right now, I can't. I keep my head down, trying by best to ignore them and keep the tears from springing to my eyes as I finally reach my car. I fumble around my purse for the keys and get in as soon as I could, driving away quickly.

They follow me for a while but eventually, I manage to lose track of them. By now, the tears I have not been able to stop for the past couple of days have started to fall again and I can barely see the road through them and my sunglasses, so I pull off the road to side.

I lean my head back and close my eyes, trying to calm myself. All I wanted was a coffee, why couldn't they just leave me alone for a few minutes?

I open my eyes once I've managed to stop crying and pull my sunglasses off, realizing for the first time that I'm parked by the sea. How could I have missed that?

I get out of the car and head towards it. It seems pretty isolated so I figure I'll be fine. I used to come to the beach all the time when I was younger, whenever I had to think or even just to relax.

I had not done that in a while. I missed it.

I pulled my phone out and went to the gallery which was filled with pictures of Liam and I. I hadn't had the heart to delete them, no matter how sad they made me when I looked at them, which I have about ten times since we broke up.

And I'm doing it once again, I realize. I scroll through them one by one, resisting the urge to cry. I go through them all, and there are pictures from even before Liam came into my life, pictures I haven't seen in a while. Then comes one that makes me stop.

It's him. Nick Jonas. It's a picture from back when we were fifteen. I have my arm around his waist as his arm is slung across my shoulder and we are both grinning from ear to ear.

I remember that moment so well, all of a sudden. We were at a bowling alley, and Nick and I had won against Joe and Kevin. Nick insisted that we take a picture to freeze the moments of victory. I remember rolling my eyes and teasing him about it, but eventually agreeing. Joe had taken the picture, mumbling something about us being sore winners while Kevin laughed at us.

Thinking about it made me smile, my first real smile since the break-up. The Miley in the picture had been living an amazing life and thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. How had I changed so much in such a short time?

I sigh, which seems to be all I do these days. I haven't spoken to anyone; I'd locked myself in my apartment until I had run out of food. I'd gotten so many calls, messages, asking about what happened and offering sympathy, but I didn't want it, their sympathy or their "It's going to be OK"s. They were just words, useless words.

I look at the picture, closing my eyes and letting the memories play over.

My first love. The first boy I'd ever said "I love you" to, the one I had promised to love forever.

What's happened to us? I always thought that even if we did break up, we'd still be friends. But I was dead wrong, and the proof is that we haven't even spoken to each other in two years or so. Even when we see each other at award shows or something, we pretend to not know each other.

And Joe, he was always like another brother (not that i don't have enough, trust me, two is plenty), always finding ways to annoy me and Nick but being there when I needed him. Kevin, always the sensible one; the one Nick and I used to look up to. He's married now and I wasn't even invited to his wedding.

I flip to the next photo and it's a picture of Demi, Selena and I from an award show which seems like a hundred years ago. Demi; my best friend whom I failed to be there for when she needed me the most.

And Selena, the incredibly sweet girl who I never got to become friends with because she started dating my ex. We'd gotten over that eventually but we never really became friends. I wish it was otherwise. She seems like a great person.

The beeping of my phone brings my attention back from wandering off. I notice I have a message and open it. It's from my manager.

_Miley, I know you don't want to do this, but I really do think it would be best if you did. Call me. We'll talk it out, k?_

I breath in and then out, as slowly as possible.

The conversation I had with my manager about a week ago plays over in my head.

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey, Miley."_

"_What's up, Katie?"_

"_I have some exciting news."_

"_What is it?"_

"_You're going to go on tour!"_

_I squeal, "Really?"_

"_Yup! How awesome of a manager am I?"_

_I laugh,"Way awesome! So when is this tour?"_

"_In a month."_

_The smile on my face drops. An unsure feeling is nagging at me. "Isn't that a little too soon?"_

"_Don't worry about it."_

"_But I can't leave Liam now; he just got back from filming. And we've spent so much time apart."_

"_Come on, Miley. This is an opportunity of a lifetime."_

"_Well… I'll think about it, Ok?"_

"_Alright. But, um… there's something you should probably know."_

"_What?"_

"_You're going to be touring with the Jonases, Selena and Demi. You can't say no, Miley because this is your chance to put your career back on track and I worked really hard to get this contract. So think about it, Ok. I'll call you tomorrow, ok bye!" She says it so fast without a breath in between that it takes a second for it to hit me. And when it does, she's already hung up._

I had flat out refused. There was no doubt in my mind that that was the worst idea Katie, my usually level headed manager, had ever come up with.

My mom had tried to convince me to go as well, but I had said no.

Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like the most horrible idea. I mean, I still think the Jonases, Selena, Demi and I together in a bus for a spells chaos.

But it's also a challenge. And that's exactly what I need right now to get my mind off the break-up. A distraction. I've been cooped up in my apartment the past few days, wallowing in self-pity and emptying out carton after carton of ice cream. It's time I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and started to shape my life up again.

I click on reply, typing in a message quickly.

_I'll do it._

Am I really going to do this?

If I do, there's no going back…

My thumb lingers over the send button.

Fuck it. I've never been one to over analyze things before I do it. I make up my mind a second later, pressing down on send. I let out a huge breath i didn't realize i was holding in as my lips tug slightly upwards. This must be the craziest, most insane decision I've ever made. There, that sounds a bit like the old me, doesn't it?

Ok, so now that that's done, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if this backfires on me or not. I'm hoping for the not part.


	2. Before the Storm

**Chapter Two**

_With every strike of lightning,  
Comes a memory that lasts.  
And not a word is left unspoken,  
As the thunder starts to crash._

Someone's singing. Rather loudly. And it's annoying my sleep deprived brain.

I sit up, groaning and rubbing my eyes wildly as my hand thrashes around the bed for my phone from which I've finally figured out the music is coming from and cut off the noise once it's in my hand.

"What?" The snap in my tone is not subtle.

"What do you mean what? Are you ready?" It's Katie, I realize. What's she doing calling me so early in the mor—oh, it's ten-thirty.

"Katie, may I please know what the fuck you're talking about?"

"Don't tell me you forgot. Please Miley, you couldn't have forgotten already! You're supposed to be at the meeting for your tour in half an hour!"

Shit. "Umm… I didn't forget, I'm just about to… be on my way," I say, springing off the bed and rushing around the room like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find something to wear.

"Really?" she says, sounding suspicious. Does she not have any faith in me? Gosh.

"Really. Now, I have to go so I can be there on time."

"Ok…"

"Bye!"

Ok. Calm down, Miley, calm down. You can do this. Get ready really fast and then drive really fast. You can be there on time.

Who am I kidding, no I can't. Basically, I've got two options, show up (possibly) on time and look like crap or look fabulous and be late.

I choose the second one.

- :] -

So, here I am; half an hour late; getting yelled at by Katie. Apparently, they had to delay the meeting because of me. Really, she's just making a big deal out of nothing. It's just half an hour.

I look across the room while pretending to listen to whatever Katie's going on about and see the rest of my tour mates in a group, and for some reason, I have a feeling they're talking about me

"…Now go on, and apologize for being late."

"What?" I say, just noticing that she's told me something I need to do.

She sighs, "Go on. And be nice."

"Whatever," I mutter, walking towards the direction where the four of them stood: Joe, Nick, Demi and Selena.

I wonder where Kevin is?

"Hi guys," I say, coming up with the brightest smile possible, which, to be honest, is not really that bright to begin with and ends up being a pathetic little half-smile.

"Hey!" Says Demi and gives me a hug, which relaxes me… somewhat. I exchange hellos with Joe and Selena as well, wondering when or even if Nick is going to acknowledge me. I'm surprised they are all so cool with me. Except Nick, of course.

"You're late." He says. No 'hi', or 'how are you'. Jolly Old Nick.

I roll my eyes, "What're you going to do about it?"

I know just how to get on his nerves, and honestly that might just be the most fun part of this tour.

"Let's just get started," he mutters and I follow the others into the room where the meeting is going to take place.

- :] -

An hour and half of boring technical facts and whatnot later, the meeting has finally come to a conclusion. Thank God. I'd almost fell asleep in there. We are told we need to be back in the studio this afternoon for rehearsals, and that from tomorrow on, we are going to be rehearsing and promoting this tour 24/7… together. Oh, the joy.

Well, I better get used to them (again) because I will be spending the next few months on a tour bus with them.

So far, I've found out that a. Kevin's not here because he's busy with his new reality TV show (good for Kev), b. Nick and Joe are touring mostly as solo artists, c. everybody seems pretty cool with me; oh, right, except Nick; he's still being a jackass (and by that I mean, ignoring me).

Oh, and d. I probably won't even have time to think about Liam.

My favourite is d., of course.

- :] -

"Ok, that's good. You can take a break now," says the tour manager, later that day.

I nod, jumping off the little makeshift stage we've set up. I grab a bottle of water, gulping it all down. I'd forgotten how much hard work was involved in a tour.

I plop down on one of the chairs as I watch Demi take her place on the stage I'd just left.

"You really are good." Says a voice from my left and I turn to see Selena sitting next to me. Was she here when I sat down?

"Thanks," I say, smiling, "So are you."

"You're just being polite."

"No, I mean it. You are good."

She just smiles, not saying anything. We both turn to watch Demi rehearsing. Demi was always a really good performer, and I'd always tell her that. Out of all of us, I think it was she who was able to control her voice when she performed live best.

That is, not considering Nick because he is the only one who could make me cry while he sang onstage. He just made me feel like he was singing to me alone, which (let's face it) most of the time _was _him singing to me when we were younger. I haven't heard him sing in a while. Will his voice still hold that mesmerizing power over me?

I hope not or that would make keeping my distance from him a very difficult task.

"She missed you, you know." It's Selena again.

"I missed her too." I say, nodding slowly.

"You should've called her."

"I know."

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't know, Selena. I don't want to have this conversation right now," I say and somehow, that comes out sounding way ruder than I'd meant it to be.

"Ok."

_Don't be a bitch, _a voice in my head says, _she's just trying to help. _I push the voice away.

A few minutes of silence passes between us.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," I say finally.

"It's Ok, I know what you've been through recently."

"What do you- Oh." I cut myself off in the last minute, realizing that she's talking about Liam and I. "How did you know?"

"I got a secret letter from the FBI," eye roll, "How do you think?"

I laugh, despite the topic of conversation. "Right."

"You know if you wanted to talk… I'm right here."

I eye her suspiciously. Is she genuinely being nice, or did Demi put her up to it? "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

- :] -

I'm walking into a restaurant where I'm supposed to be meeting the others later that night. Demi suggested we go out to dinner to celebrate us going on tour, and I allowed myself to get dragged into this.

Why, oh, why, am I such a sucker?

When I get there, I see that only Nick's here. My heart drops to my stomach. Should I just run back outside and come back when the others are here? He looks up and sees me, so I guess that plan is not going to work.

I walk forward and slip into a chair across from him. We sit there for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence before I decide that I cannot take how awkward this is. This Nick and I, it's not supposed to be awkward, although it's been like this all day.

I know we'd not been the best of friends for the past couple of years, but I didn't expect it to be this bad…

I break the silence first.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"So… where's everybody else?"

He shrugs, "I'm guessing on their way?"

I nod. Silence again.

Another fifteen minutes passes, within which I've sent multiple text messages to Demi, Joe and Selena asking where they were (no replies), played Draw Something for a good ten minutes and started at my hands the other three and I'm starting to get agitated.

Suddenly a thought pops into my mind. Did Demi set us up in an attempt to get us to talk? That devious little mind of hers would be able to think of something like this. I should know, I taught her all about being devious.

"Where are they? Do they expect for us to sit here waiting for them all day?" I say, snapping.

He looks up, his eyes narrowing, "Why, you in a hurry to get back to Liam?"

Oh, so of all people, he doesn't know. This is great. I just narrow my eyes back at him, not saying anything. If, in fact, Demi did plan this, well I'm going to kill her.

"Are you going to get in trouble with your fiancé?"

"No," I answer back timidly.

"What's the problem, Queen Miley?"

"The problem is, I have to sit here with _you_."

"Then leave."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine," I say one more time, standing up. Why does this remind me of all the silly fights we used to have when we were fourteen?

"Tell Liam I said hi," he says, and it sounds so mocking and mean that it makes me crack.

"You can tell him yourself because he just joined the club of my crappy ex-boyfriends, just like you."

"What?"

"We broke up." Actually, he dumped me but Nick doesn't need to know that. My ego's already bruised as it is.

"Oh, I-"

"Didn't know. How could you have? You don't know anything about me anymore."

"And that's my fault?"

"Yes!"

"It's both our faults and you know it."

He's right, like he almost always is, but there is no way in hell I'm going to admit that to him. I stay quiet, contemplating if whether it would be better if I just walked away.

"I'm sorry about your break-up."

"Yeah, what can you do about it?"

We just stare at each other. Not wanting to let go but unable to move forward either.

"Can we be friends again?"

I blink, thinking about how quickly this conversation and Nick's attitude towards me has taken a 360.

"Can we?" I question him.

"We can try."

I want to move forward, I realize. I want him in my life again. He's the boy that I fell in love with at fourteen. Some of him is still bound to be the same, right?

Mostly, I still just want to pick up that piece of cake the lady on the table next to ours is eating and smash it onto his face for being such a jackass to me all day, but I manage to make the feeling pass.

I nod slowly, smiling a bit. "Alright. Let's start over. Hey, I'm Miley." I say and put my hand out.

"I'm Nick, and I thought you didn't do handshakes."

"What?"

"When we met, remember? You said you didn't do handshakes and you gave me a hug instead."

The fact that he still remembers that makes me smile.

"Is that what you want?"

He shrugs, and I see a little bit of his old shy self come out.

I smile, leaning forward and hugging him, which turns out to an awkward hug, but you know, we'd just have to work on that and we have a few months on hand to do just that.

- :] -

**Thanks for the reviews, HelloKittyLuv33, Simar and Miss. lDolt****. And also to everyone who read, subscribed or made this story a favourite.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. :)**


	3. When You Look Me in the Eyes

**Chapter Three**

_I can reach my tomorrow;  
I can hold my head up high;  
And it's all because you're by my side._

There is a glare in my eyes and I silently wish it to go away. Please, I beg it, give me five more minutes of peace. It doesn't listen, instead, it shines brighter.

My eyes take painfully long to open and adjust to the bright light streaming through the windows of my room. I sit up in bed, surveying the scene laid out in front of me.

Boy, did we make a mess last night. If my mom walked into this room right now she'd probably have a heart attack and drop dead.

Today was the day the tour started and someone had come up with the brilliant idea that we should have a party last night to celebrate the beginning of our tour. We'd had a really good time with our friends and then the others (Joe, Nick, Demi and Selena) had decided to crash at my place because they were apparently too tired to go home.

I'm squeezed in my bed with Selena, Demi AND Joe while Nick is fast asleep on the couch. A sneaky smile appears on my face as a brilliant idea pops onto my mind. What is it, you ask? They are all asleep and I'm awake, so obviously, I'm going to draw stuff on their faces. Duh!

I slip off the bed as quietly as possible, trying my best not to disturb the other three. I begin collecting my weapons of crime: sharpie, whipping cream and mustard. Then I get to work on my masterpieces. Once I'm done with all of them, I stand back to admire my handiwork, and I'm quite pleased with the result, even if I do say so myself.

I quickly pull out my camera and take a few shots of them quickly, for you know, future purposes.

Brushing off the invisible dust off my shirt, I skip happily into the kitchen to make us all some breakfast, because you know, they are going to be pretty mad and this could act as a peace offering… sort of.

I'm just finishing off when I hear someone scream from my room, followed by a chorus of mumblings of confusion and angry voices. Then I hear this in a collection of four voices:

"_Miley!"_

:] –

Later that day, we've all agreed to meet up a little bit early before sound check so we can check out the tour bus which is literally going to be our home for the next few months. The first show we're going to do is going to be in LA and then afterwards, we'll hop on the bus and be on our way.

I'm so excited; I've been waiting for this all month long!

I walk up to the huge bus that has our faces blown up on it. It looks awesome! We had a photo shoot for it the other day and we all had so much for it.

Oh, you must be wondering how I'm doing with the others, right? Well, Joe's really the same he was all those years ago except now he's a bit more responsible and way hotter (not that I like him or anything). Selena and I have tried our best to be nice to each other and we're making good progress, but sometimes it's hard because she's just so perfect and right about _everything_ (Ok, so maybe sometimes I got a bit jealous of her, so what?). Demi, well, she was the one I thought would be the hardest to get to forgive me but actually was the easiest. From day one of this tour, we went back to being best friends like nothing ever changed.

And Nick, oh boy, Nick. Where do I start? After that night at the restaurant, we've been trying our best to stay friends and not bite each other's heads off because, you know, that's always been how we were. Except that before, after we fought, we would make out and that would make everything better, but now we didn't really have that option, did we? But otherwise, we're fine. We even flirt sometimes. But don't worry, it's just harmless flirting. Nothing serious. We're strictly friends.

I walk into the bus to find everyone else already sitting in the little living room kind of area and chatting.

"Hey guys!" I call out as I launch myself into the couch between Nick and Demi. Both of them groan and I laugh.

"So, Miles, why don't you go check out the bunks?" says Joe and I should have taken it as a sign that his excitement was bit overboard, but I didn't. Stupid, stupid me.

"Oh My God, yes!" I say, instead, as I get off the couch and walk into the bunk area of the bus. I told them I wanted the middle bunk no matter what. The bottom one is way too noisy from the engine and the top one is too high.

The moment my eyes land on my bunk, though, they bug out. The whole of it is covered in junk. I can't even begin to tell you what is in there. I see a bunch of crumpled up newspaper, empty soda cans, silly string, fruit peels… you name it and its there. The reason I know this is my bunk is because there's a piece of paper stuck on the top with a message on it: "Miley, enjoy your bunk!".

"Guys," I groan and groan again when they all start laughing.

"Payback's a bitch, Miles," comes Demi's voice as I continue to pout. I can't believe they did this to me. All I did was draw and put mustard and whipping cream on their faces… and take pictures of it… and tell them I would release them if they didn't do what I want. Ok, so maybe I went a bit overload, but one against four isn't fair!

But I won't give in. Never. Ever. Ever.

Oh, it's on. It's on like donkey kong.

:] –

"Good night, everybody!"

And then we're backstage with everyone fussing over us, handing us water bottles and towels and pats on the backs with "that was great show" or "you guys were amazing".

And I absolutely love it.

I'm beaming from all the compliments and the rush from being on stage again. I'm never going to give this up for anything ever again. I mean, I did have my doubts in the beginning about how this would turn out to be, but now, I'm glad I came.

I walk into my dressing room and plop down on the couch, laying down with my head resting on the armrest, sighing happily.

"Knock, knock. Can I come in?"

I turn my head around to see Nick standing behind me.

"You already did."

"Mhm. So, you did great tonight."

I smile, "So did you."

I sit up, allowing some space for Nick. He sits down next to me and smiles.

"Thanks, but I think the crowd loved you more."

"Are you kidding me? The crowd was ninety percent teenage girls, you're telling me they liked watching me better than you ripping your shirt off?"

He smirks, and I realize my mistake… a bit too late. "Did _you _like it?"

I narrow my eyes, "This conversation is officially over." I get up and pull him up, pushing him towards the door.

"What're you doing?"

"Kicking you out! I need to change."

"Fine. I'll see you on the bus?"

I nod, wave and then shut the door. I lean against the door, sighing. I _did_ like it, but no way in hell was I going to admit that to him. It would inflate his already huge ego and no one wants that. But even as I think that, I can't help but smile at the way I'm feeling… like I'm fifteen and back on the Best of Both Worlds tour again, when everything was perfect.

:] –

That night, as I lay in my bunk, I can't go to sleep. I feel like I just drank a gallon of coffee and my eyes just won't shut no matter how hard I try.

There are videos of tonight's concert already up on YouTube and I can't stop watching them on my phone. I watch myself dance around like I got no care in the world, having the time of my life with my three re-newed best friends, and one new almost best friend.

"Hey, what're you doing?" I hear a voice break through the silence of the bus.

I look to my right to see Nick staring at me from his bunk from across mine. Oh yeah, his bunk is across from mine. Convenient, isn't it?

"Just watching videos of the concert."

"They're already up?"

"Yup."

"Why aren't you asleep? Aren't you tired?"

I shrug, "I don't know, I can't sleep."

"Do you want me to sing to you?"

The offer sounds so sweet and warm that it makes me smile but I don't want him to think I've become a softie so I roll my eyes, "You singing to me is not the solution to everything, Nick."

"But it will be for this time."

I pause for a few seconds, "Alright."

"What do you want me to sing?"

"Anything."

"If the heart is always searching, can you ever find a home?"

I smile the minute he starts to sing it. It's been such a long time since I heard that song that I've forgotten how good it made me feel because I knew Nick wrote that for me when we were younger. He wrote a lot of songs for me back then, and so did I for him. But his were always better.

"I've been looking for that someone; I'll never make it on my own…" Before I realized it, the words had passed through my mouth. I looked to him and could make out a small smile on his face as he took over.

"Dreams can't take the place of loving you."

"There's got to be a million reasons why it's true…"

We joined together for the chorus. "When you look me in the eyes, and tell me that you love me, everything's alright… when you're right here by my side. When you look me in the eyes, I catch a glimpse of heaven, I find my paradise… when you look—"

We heard a groan coming from the bottom bunk followed by a, "Shut up, guys, some people are trying to sleep here," from Joe.

A chorus of 'yeah's follow from Sel and Demi.

I laugh, making Nick laugh as well, which brought us more groans from the other three

Once we had stopped giggling, I turned to lie on my side, facing Nick. I realized I was suddenly very, very sleepy.

"Go to sleep, Miles."

I yawned, nodding. And before I knew it, I was out like a light.

:] –

**Hey everyone, again, thank you for reviewing, reading, following, favouring and all the other 'ing's. :)**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter? Let me know. **


	4. Picture To Burn

**Chapter Four**

_You're a redneck, heartbreak,  
Who's really bad at lying._

Ok, so I've got a new plan. Take them all down, one at a time. Divide and conquer, you know what I mean?

a. So, my first target is Joe. And here's what I plan to do:

b. Find a teddy bear.

c. Find Joe when he's sleeping.

d. Place teddy bear in his arms so that it looks like he went to sleep hugging it.

e. Take a picture of it.

f. Post it online.

But I'll have to actually find a teddy bear and then Joe when he's sleeping, so it can't really be done now. Oh well, I'm feeling kind of lazy anyways. I'm lying on my bunk and messing around with my phone, and suddenly, I realize I'm kind of hungry. A sandwich, that's what I want.

"Hey, Nick?" I call out; he's in the back room playing with his guitar. I swear he spends way too much time with that thing. If he could marry it, he would.

"Yeah?" He calls back to me.

"Do you want a sandwich?"

"Sure."

"Great, while you're in there, make one for me as well?"

"Ha ha, you think you're so smart don't you?"

I grin, "Actually, I do."

"Well, too bad because you aren't getting one."

"Please?"

"No."

"Fine. Let me starve to death. I will write a death note saying you're the one to blame!"

He laughs, "Stop being so dramatic."

I sigh, I'm glad he thinks my misery is funny.

Suddenly, a picture of Liam and I pops up on the screen. I'm looking at him with a stupid lovesick grin on my face as he focuses on the camera and one of my dogs is seated next to me. I look so happy. How is it possible that that picture was taken only a couple weeks before he broke up with me?

And more importantly, _why _did he break up with me? I've thought about it a hundred million times but I can't seem to come up with an answer. We were so in love; he even asked me to marry him, what made him change his mind in just a few days?

Silent tears start running down my cheek.

I want to know, I decide, I want to know right now. And once I'd made that decision, I knew there was no going back, because honestly I'm too stubborn to even listen to my own self.

I opened the contacts, before closing it when I remember he's on speed dial. Number fucking one. Clearly, I wasn't his.

I hear the rings and my heartbeat gets louder with each one. What am I going to say? 'Hi Liam, I think you're a son of a bitch, but will you please tell me why the hell you broke up with me?' just doesn't sound very good.

I hear a click and then his glorious voice, "Miley?"

God, I miss him.

No, you don't. Stop it. Focus.

"H-Hi." Stupid stutter.

"Miles? How are you?"

"I didn't call to exchange pleasantries, Liam."

There's a pause and then he says, "Why _did _you call?"

"I-I," that stupid stutter again, "I just-" I begin to say but stop short when I hear someone calling his name in the background. A girl's voice. And it's saying 'Who are you talking to? Come back to bed!'. My jaw almost hits the ground. It's barely been over a month since we broke up and he's already in bed with someone else?

"Who's that?" I say, narrowing my eyes even though he can't see me.

He sighs, "That's-Miles… I-"

"Classy, Liam. I don't need to hear anymore. Have a nice, miserable life."

I hang up, cursing myself for calling him in the first place. I was doing so well all these days, why do I have to go back?

My brain is very sensibly telling me that I should not be hurting over him, that he's not worth it. But as always, my hearts being an egghead and hurting anyways.

:[ –

"Hey, Miles, I made you a sandwich," says Nick as I walk into the kitchen slash living room area.

"Why?"

"Because you said you wanted one."

"That was like half an hour ago."

He sighs, "Well, aren't you hungry anymore?"

I ignore the question. "I don't want a sandwich," I say, rolling my eyes as I sit down on the couch next to the girls. I don't want a sandwich, I want a baseball hat and flight ticket to LA so I can go and smash Liam's head until it's falling off.

"But I already made it."

"I didn't ask you to, Nick."

"You did," he says matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes, "As I've already pointed out, that was half an hour ago."

"Why are you being so moody?"

"Why are _you_ being so annoying?"

Seriously, doesn't he get it; I don't want a fucking sandwich.

"Fine, don't eat it."

"Fine, I won't."

"I'll eat it," says Joe, cutting us off.

I roll my eyes, turning back to the TV as Nick makes a scene of storming off. He's just so immature sometimes.

"Is there anything you two don't fight about?" says Selena, almost as if she's annoyed. What's with her?

I shrug.

"You were being a little mean to him. He was only trying to be nice, you know," says Demi.

"Yeah well, he doesn't have to do everything for me. I can take care of myself and he needs to know that!"

"Whoa, calm down."

A few minutes pass before I sigh, "I should probably go apologize, shouldn't I?"

"Probably."

I nod, stand up and walk towards the bunks, where I find Nick's one closed with the curtain.

"Hey," I say pulling the curtain back. He's slouched back on his pillow and got his iPod on and he's pretending to not have heard me.

"Nick?" I say, waiting for him to say something.

"Nick!" I repeat, only to be ignored again. I don't like being ignored; he of all people should know that. I yank one of his ear plugs out.

"What?" He says, giving me a look that screams 'piss off'.

"Don't give me that look."

"What do you want, Miley, to fight some more with me?"

"I'm sorry. I just… I'm sorry. I just didn't want a sandwich."

I'm giving him my best I'm-so-so-so-sorry face and hope that it works. It does. He sighs, sitting up straight and motioning for me to join him. I do and he takes my hand. "What's this about? I know you and I know this isn't about a measly sandwich."

I shrug, focusing my eyes on anywhere but him. I don't want to admit that he still knows me too well, even after all this time.

"Hey," he says, lifting my chin to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I insist.

"Don't lie to me, Cyrus."

"Mind your own business, Jonas."

"Don't shut me out, Miley."

I sigh. This boy… he can make me do things I'd never do otherwise. I can't tell him, he'll yell at me for being so stupid. He's looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something.

"I called Liam earlier," I say almost as if I were saying I called the pizza place.

He nods slowly, crinkling his forehead, "And why did you do that?"

I shrug, "I don't know… I just wanted some answers, you know?"

"And did you get them?"

"No... I don't know," I say, thinking about the girl's voice I heard, "Maybe."

"And did it make you feel better?"

"No."

"Then you know why you shouldn't do it again."

I nod. How is he so calm and sensible about this? Maybe I should have talked to him in the first place without going and calling stupid Liam. His arm slings around my shoulder casually, squeezing me slightly in a one-armed hug. It's such a simple gesture, but manages to make me feel all warm and gooey inside.

"I'm sorry I fought with you. I was just taking my frustration with Liam out on you."

He nods, "It's Ok. But if you ever feel like that again, will you talk to me, instead?"

"Maybe."

"I need a yes."

I smile, "You can't always get what you want." Boy, do I love testing him.

"Promise me, Miley," he insists, giving me a stern look.

I sigh, "I promise."

"Pinky swear?"

I burst out laughing, "What are we, ten?"

"Just do it, Miley." He says it so seriously, with his pinky out. I grin, linking mine with his. He leans forward and places a soft kiss on my forehead, jumping off his bunk and walking away.

Did I say we were just friends? I'm screwed.

:] –

"So, Nick tells me you're in need for some retail therapy?" Says Demi, as I walk off of sound check that day.

I raise an eyebrow, "Nick said that?"

"Well, technically, no, but he did say you were upset."

I sigh, "Why does he have such a big mouth?"

"You know he only cares about you."

"I know."

"So, are you in?"

"But we have to get ready for the show."

"The show starts in four hours, we can be back in two."

So, here we are, Demi, Selena and I at the mall an hour and half later. Did you really think I was going to turn down an offer to go shopping? Well, if you did, you don't really know me that well.

I've been trying on pants and tops and dresses and shoes and hats and whatever else we can lay our hands on that I can wear for the past hour and half. I'm putting on a little fashion show for Selena and Demi where they would rate the outfit I had on, based on which, I decided if to buy it or not.

"So, Nick's birthday is coming up," says Demi when I'm once again back in the dressing room changing, a dress this time.

"Oh my God, I totally forgot!"

"Yeah, I figured."

"Ta-da!" I say, walking out in a knee-length black lace dress.

"Wow, Miles, you're seriously a hot piece of ass," says Demi.

"I'm very flattered, but I'm also very straight, Demetria," I say teasingly with a wink.

She makes a face. "Shut up, ew."

Selena laughs, "She's right. That's ten, Miles."

I smile, "So, I should get it?"

"Yup," says Demi, "Definitely. You should buy and save it so you can wear it when Nick finally grows some and asks you out."

I roll my eyes, "What makes you think he's going to ask me out, and what makes you think I'd accept?"

"Please," she says, rolling her eyes back at me, "Everyone knows it's just a matter of time."

"Whatever," I say for the lack of a counter-argument, walking back into the dressing room in an attempt to end this conversation. I noticed Selena looking kind of uncomfortable, which makes me wonder if she's still not over Nick. It couldn't be, right? She's dating Beiber, isn't she? At least that's what I've heard.

"So, you know what Nick would love for his birthday?" Demi says, smirking as I walk back out in the clothes I'd been wearing earlier, holding the pile of clothes that I got an eight or above for. She's holding something behind her back and I'm almost too afraid to find out what it is.

She's grinning wildly as she pulls her hand in front, revealing a provocative black, see-through baby doll. My eyes are as wide as saucers.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," she says, as serious as a heart attack, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the cashier with Selena walking behind us.

;] –

**Hey. I can't stress how much you guys' reading this means to me. So, thank you. :)**

**Review?**


	5. Full Circle

**Chapter Five**

_I'll keep on running till we meet in the middle,  
I'll put right aside and give just a little,  
There's miles to go but we both know we'll make it._

Today's the first time we've gotten to stay in a hotel in a few days so I'm looking forward to lounging around in my hotel room in my pajamas with a movie, preferably something like Titanic or The Notebook, and ordering in some room service. And ice cream, there needs to be ice cream, of course!

But… seems like Demi's out to ruin my plans.

"Miley, get off that lazy ass and into a gorgeous outfit, because we are going out!" Says Demi as she barges into my room.

I groan, "No, Demi. I just want to stay in tonight."

She makes a face, "When did you become a boring old grandma."

"I didn't," I say, giving her a look.

"In that case, hurry up! You have half an hour to look fabulous," she says a bit exaggeratedly.

"What's wrong with how I look now?"

"Eh. You could use a bit more make-up."

I laugh. I love how brutally honest she is with me because I know that she really only means it as a joke.

"Who else is going?" I say, when I really only mean 'Is Nick going?'. I don't care about the rest, to be perfectly honest.

"Joe and Selena," she says as I rummage through my luggage for something to wear.

"And Nick?" I say nonchalantly, sneaking a look at her. She's smirking as if she knew I'd ask her that. Whatever, I'm going to ignore her.

"Yeah, he's coming as well. Why do you care if he comes?"

"I don't," I say casually, pulling out a beaded top and skinny jeans, "I was just wondering why you left him out when you mentioned Joe and Selena."

"Sure," she says, a bit all too knowingly.

:] –

"So, where are we going?" I ask them as we are all settled into the car.

"We are going to have the time of our lives," says Demi dramatically.

"Hardly," chimes in Joe, "We're just going bowling."

I groan. This is the big plan for the night of my life? Fail. "Nick's idea?" I ask, although I already know the answer.

"You know it."

"Hey! It's not that bad," Nick is saying and we all laugh.

"Nick just wanted to put his bowling ball to use," says Joe and I burst out laughing.

"You have your own bowling ball?" I say, unable to keep the fits of laughter at bay. How vain is it that he has his own bowling ball, and that he brought it on tour with him?

Nick crosses his arms, huffing, narrowing his eyes at me, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing at all," I reply, trying to keep a straight face as I do but failing miserably.

:] –

We arrive at the bowling alley a few minutes later and once we've got our bowling shoes and all on, we decide to break into two teams and are now debating on who should be in who's team.

"Ok, one team is going to have two people and the other three," Joe's telling us.

Nick shrugs, "I don't mind having just one other person."

So he thinks he's that good, huh? The fact that he's so confident makes me smile. I love it when he gets all serious and competitive and focused. It's kind of cute.

"Ok," says Demi, almost immediately, "You can be with Mi-"

"Except Miley," Nick says, cutting her off. My jaw drops. What the hell?

"Why don't you want me on your team?" I ask him incredulously. I mean, I'm not exactly the best when it comes to bowling but I thought he was so good that it didn't matter who was on his team?

He shrugs, "Because you made fun of my bowling ball."

Is he serious? Is he really mad at me right now? I narrow my eyes, if he wants to play it that way, then fine. "Alright, you can have Selena. Demi, Joe and I will be on one team."

"Fine," he says.

"Fine," I challenge him back.

"Losers pay for dinner," says Joe, walking up to us and pulling me away.

Joe and Demi form a circle, or technically, a triangle with me and are mumbling something about some sort of strategy or something which I just cannot concentrate on right now. My eyes keep darting over to Nick and Selena talking animatedly a few ways from us.

Unbelievable. If he thinks this is going to bother me, well, he's in for a surprise.

Although, I will say this once and deny it if it comes up ever again, but I think I might be slightly, _slightly_ jealous. Or maybe I'm just plain annoyed.

He looks up, catching my eye and I try to play it off as if I was casually glancing his way by narrowing my eyes and then looking away, letting him know that I meant business.

;] –

It's been half an hour since we started this war (that's right, it's war) and it pains me to admit that Nick's "team" is ahead of ours, which annoys me. Selena is not the best, but she's not bad either and Nick's obviously very good, so even with my best efforts, Demi's poor ones and Joe's Ok ones combined, it's not good enough.

I have to do something, and I have to do something quick.

"Team strategy meeting!" I call out and they all look at me like I'm crazy. I motion for Joe and Demi to come with me and lead them to a corner, catching Nick's eye roll but pretending to not have seen it.

"Listen, you two, we need to win somehow!"

"But Miles, we're way behind," says Joe with a sigh.

"I don't care, we have to win. I'm not letting that overconfident, annoying brother of yours win!" I say, staring them both down so that they get how serious I am.

"Ok, I hear you, but how?"

"I have an idea..." I say, grinning mischievously like the villains in the movies. "Every time either of them goes up to bowl, we need to somehow come up with a distraction so that they mess up."

"That's never going to work."

"I love your optimism, Demi, but what have we got to lose?"

And that's how we won. Isn't it exciting when you win, even if you did just do it by cheating? I'm gloating and doing a little happy dance that's making the others laugh. But I don't care, because that look on Nick's face as he lost was just priceless.

Oh yeah, now you know never to mess with me, buddy.

I'm still beaming as we make our way out of the bowling place to go to the restaurant when I notice Nick's still upset. Seriously? He's such a baby sometimes.

I grab onto his hand and pull on it. He looks at me but doesn't say anything.

I sigh, "Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes."

"Come on, I thought we were just having fun."

He shrugs, "Well, congratulations, I guess." He sounds so sour that I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean it.

"_Nick_." I warn.

"What?"

"Don't be jerk. I'm sorry I made fun of your ball," I say and then realize what it sounded like. An involuntary smile spreads on his face and I grin at him.

"Are we Ok?" I ask him hopefully.

He shakes his head like as if he gives up, "Sure, if that'll get you to stop annoying me." He's smiling though so I guess I'm forgiven.

I hug his arm with a squeal, then let go and skip in front towards the other, catching a quick glance at him to see him grinning.

:D –

So we go to a restaurant and stuff ourselves with food until we can't another morsel and then leave after Nick and Selena split the bill, since they did lose earlier. And then we decide to make a stop at an empty playground (my idea) and now are currently lying on the grass, looking up at the sky. Well, Nick and I are. The others are running around and… to be honest, I don't really know what they're doing because I don't really care.

"Nicholas?"

"Hmm?" He hums in answer from next to me.

"I'm glad that you're in my life again."

"Me too." I can't see it, but I feel him smiling and it makes me smile as well.

"We won't drift apart again, will we?"

Suddenly, I sound like an insecure child looking for reassurance. I hadn't realized how much I'd grown to depend on him as my friend, as someone who'd be there for me over the past couple of months.

"Miles, you can't think like that."

"But… what if it happens? It's happened before."

"It won't this time," he says and I realize that the discussion has come to its end.

"Ok," I whisper. I roll over onto my side, resting my head on my palm so I can see him. "I hate your haircut, by the way."

He smiles, "I'm surprised it took you two months to say that."

I grin, falling back onto the grass again, "So am I."

"Miles," he's the one rolling over to see me this time.

"Yeah?" I say and realize a moment too late how close he is to me. His face is hovering literally an inch away from mine. If he moves an inch, his lips would be on mine.

What the hell is he trying to do?

Oh, God, is he going to kiss me? Do I want him to? No, no, no, no, no, I don't, right?

Right?

_Right?_

He's so close now that if I tried, I probably could count the freckles on his face, but I don't because I'm kind of a little too distracted by his eyes. My biggest weakness when it comes to him. And I hate that he knows it and uses it all the time to get me to do things I don't want to.

If I want to stop this, I've got to make a move in the next three seconds. But I don't want to. I'm tempted to see where he goes with this, although the rational thing to do would be to stop it.

Fuck this, I can't move if my life depended on it. My eyes drift close; there are butterflies in my stomach; my heart is racing and my palms are sweating.

Suddenly, I feel his fingers wrap around my wrist. My eyes dart open; he's already on his feet and pulling me up.

"Come on," he's saying, "Let's go join the others."

I get off the grass as well, still unable to get rid of the shakiness in my knees. Nick's already making his way towards the others while I struggle to come to terms with the recent course of events.

What the hell just happened? Was it all just in my head? No! I could have sworn he was just about to kiss me… but he didn't? I'm so confused right now.

Is that a smirk on his face?

Fucking tease.

;] –

**:D Sorry this got a little late. I struggled a bit with this chapter, but hopefully, it turned out alright.**

**Reviews?**


	6. Five Minutes To Midnight

**Chapter Six**

_And when the clock strikes twelve,  
Will you find another party, go and kiss and tell?  
'Cause you know I never will.  
__I think we should strike a match,  
We'll hold it to the wind to and see how long it lasts;  
We can make the time stand still._

"Miles… "

"Hmm?"

"Miley…"

"Go away, I'm sleeping."

"Miley!"

"What?" I snap, my eyes opening to see Nick's face hovering above me. I push him off and sit up, rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?" I grumble.

"Two-fifty."

Is he serious? I'm too tired to come up anything sarcastic to say, so instead I go with giving him a look and saying "And you woke me up now because?"

"The bus stopped moving."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"…And I couldn't fall asleep and I wanted to go for a walk, but I didn't want to go alone."

I roll my eyes, "So go wake Selena up."

He gives me look, "But I don't want Selena, I want you."

I sigh. "Well, I don't want to go for a walk."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

He steps closer, placing his forehead on mine, forcing me to look into those beautiful, beautiful, (and did I mention) beautiful eyes of his. I'm a sucker for those and he's using them against me. Not fair!

"Please, Miley?"

Ugh, so needy.

"Fine," I say, jumping off my bunk and following him and I can't help but smile at the huge grin plastered on his face as he grabs my hand, slipping his fingers into mine.

:] –

About twenty minutes later, we're sitting on a street bench eating a packet of Skittles that Nick had found in his pocket. We'd walked for about fifteen minutes then sat down to take a break. I had no idea where we were, and I'm pretty sure Nick didn't either, but it's Ok because we just walked straight along the road without taking any turns or anything.

"Hey, can we play truth or dare?" He asks.

"Why?"

"Because… I'm bored."

"Fine," I say, nodding, "But I get to go first."

"Alright," He says, agreeing. He always agrees.

"Alright," I repeat, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," he says straight up, making me smirk. Isn't he quite the daredevil?

"I dare you to give me the all of the Skittles that are left."

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, handing them over to me, "That's barely a dare."

I shrug, "Would you have done it otherwise?"

"Probably not."

"Then it's a dare."

"Fine, fine. It's my turn now. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to give me back some of my Skittles."

"Alright, I walked right into that one," I say with a laugh.

He grins, holding his hand out and I give him some of them, and we continue this lame ass version of "Truth or Dare" that we've managed to accomplish.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to sing to me."

He's trying to hide his smile, but he can't. "You do know that that one was not even a dare, right?"

"Just do it."

"Ok. What do you want me to sing?"

I shrug, "Anything."

He smiles, getting off the bench and going in front of me, lifting his hand up to his mouth to pretend as if he were holding a microphone. And then he starts singing.

"They come and go, but they don't know… that you are my beautiful. And I try to come closer with you, but they all say we won't make it through. But I'll be there forever; you will see that it's better. All our hopes and our dreams will come true. I will not disappoint you, I will be right there for you, till the end, the end of time; please be mine."

I smile at him, trying to cover the fact that my heart is melting right about… now. He grins back at me, sitting back down next to me. I can't believe he just sang that. Is he trying to tell me something or is it just a song? It's just a song, definitely, nothing else.

"Truth or dare?"

I look up as he breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Truth or dare?" He repeats.

"Um… truth."

"Remember, you have to answer honestly," he reminds me.

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, yeah I know."

"Would you say yes if I asked you out?"

I blink; did he just ask me that? Where did that come from?

"No."

The word, _lie_, had slipped out before I even knew what I was saying. I looked at my feet, not wanting to look up at him because I wouldn't be able to take how hurt or disappointed he seemed.

"Do you not want to be with me?"

Do I not want to be with him? I didn't just want to be with him, I wanted to take him into a room all alone and do nasty, unmentionable things to him. Oh, if only he knew.

I looked up at him. He's staring at me with his eyes wide and hopeful. I don't know what to say, so again, I say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You only get one question."

"Fine, truth or dare?" He says sounding exasperated.

"It's my turn."

"So ask me then!"

I stand up, "I don't want to play anymore. Besides, I think we should be getting back."

He stands up, walking up behind me. "Alright, well, let's go then," he says and starts walking ahead, brushing past me. I know he's mad, I can tell. But I didn't know how else I could have handled that situation. I mean, I can think of a hundred other better ways but in that moment, nothing else had come to mind.

"Nick." I call after him, still rooted to the spot.

He turns and his face is expressionless. I don't like that; I'd prefer he be mad because now he's going to stop talking to me and act like everything's Ok when clearly, it's not. "Let's just go, Miley."

I sigh, following. The walk back is quiet as the both of us have a lot to think about. There are so many questions in my head right now, and a couple of confronting arguments going on between my heart and brain.

:/ –

"We're here," I say as we walk up to the diner that I remember from when we got off the bus.

"What?" He says, looking at me for the first time since fifteen minutes ago. I should know because I've sneaked a glance at him every two seconds the entire walk back.

"We're here, look." I say pointing to the diner.

He nods.

"So… where's the bus?" I say looking around for the tour bus. I mean, it's not like it's exactly hard to miss, it is massive and has all of our faces blown up on it.

He shrugs, "Are you sure this is it? Maybe we have to go a bit further."

I shake my head, "No, look. I remember that diner, I remember thinking the name was funny," I say, pointing to the board which proudly presents the diner's name "Shut Up and Eat." If I ever open up a restaurant, that would so be the name I picked.

"Well, where's the bus?"

I shrug, "I don't know. They couldn't have left us, could they?" I say, panic creeping through me.

"No, of course not!"

"Right, they wouldn't leave us here on purpose."

"…Except maybe it wasn't on purpose."

"What do you mean?"

"I sort of didn't tell anyone we were getting off…"

"WHAT?"

He cringes. Oh yeah, buddy, you're in trouble. He rubs his neck, just like he does when he's nervous. "I-I didn't think we'd be gone long and that they would leave so soon."

"Well, call someone, Joe, Demi, Selena, the driver!"

"I would, except I don't have my phone."

"I don't have mine either."

"…Or any money."

"Nick, I'm going to kill you." I said and the look on my face must have looked like I meant business because he looked scared. How is it possible that he had Skittles in his pocket, but not his phone or any money?

"I'm sorry," he says, and I shake my head. He waits for me to say something but gives up and tries again when I don't. "Ok, so, why don't we go in there and ask to make a phone call?"

I narrowed my eyes, letting him know that I was mad, but nodded, following him in. A boy, who looked like he should be in college, sat up with a start as he heard the bell go off since I'm guessing he'd almost fallen asleep before we came in.

"What can I get for you?" He says, sounding like he would rather kill himself than be here right now. I'm guessing he's not too happy about us waking him up either. He doesn't recognize us either, which is a bummer since now's one time I'd actually prefer if someone recognized me.

I push Nick out of the way, leaning into the counter and giving him a flirty smile, "Hi, sweetie. Here's the thing, we kind of got left behind by our bus, and I was wondering if we could make a phone call?"

"Phone calls are for customers only," he says in the same monotonous voice.

"Oh, I just hoped you'd us a favour, because, see my brother here left all the money in the bus and we don't have any. I'll pay you when the bus comes back for us."

"Brother?" I hear Nick mutter from behind me and turn, giving him a glare that would possibly cause his death if looks could kill.

"I'm sorry," the guy starts, looking like he might fall back asleep any second now, "but as I said, phone calls are for customers only and you can't be in here either if you're not going to buy anything."

"Come on, please."

"Miss, don't make me call the manager and he doesn't like it when he's woken up in the middle of the night." Yeah, he's definitely not happy about us waking him up.

I huff, pushing myself off the chair and heading for the door with Nick following me closely. I sit down on the pavement, hugging my legs. Nick sits down tentatively beside me.

"What are going to do now, Nick? Do you have any more brilliant ideas like this one to take a walk in the middle of the night in a place we don't know without informing anyone else first?"

"I'm sorry, Miley."

"Sorry, my ass. You can't just say sorry every time you fuck up and expect me to forgive you! I need to know that you won't fuck up because I've fucking had enough!"

And I don't just mean that about this situation.

There's silence for a while before he quietly says, "Are we still talking about the bus thing?"

"Just shut up, Nick."

"I said I was sorry. God, quit being such a bitch, Miley!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Just let it go."

I don't say anything because if I do, this situation just might get out of hand. I shake my head and rest my chin between my knees. A few more minutes pass in absolute silence as neither of us knows what to say or even if to say anything. That's when I felt the first raindrop land on the back of my hand. I look up at the sky, hoping, praying, that it doesn't start raining. And of course, it starts raining. In a matter of seconds, the rain has started coming down rather heavily.

I feel Nick's fingers wrap around my wrist as he pulls me up off the concrete and away from the rain. We both dash back to the diner and by the time we get in; I'm soaked and bloody pissed. I shake my hand off of Nick's and head straight for the boy who looks like he's going to start protesting again.

"Listen, you let us stay in here and make as many phone calls as we want or I will rip your fucking throat out and feed it to the dogs." My eyes are burning with irritation and I think he sees it because he stares back at me with all the confidence of before gone.

"Listen to her, man. She will do it. She just ripped my heart out and fed it to the dogs." I hear Nick say and I glare at him (not for the first time that night), which shuts him up.

The boy nods, looking kind of scared and points to a telephone sitting a few ways from us. I turn back to him; forcing the most angelic smile I could summon and flash it for him, "Thank you."

So Nick makes the phone call, and I go sit in one of the tables. I rest my head on the table, as the coldness of my soaked clothes makes goose bumps appear on my skin. It's almost dawn, I realize as I can make out the tiny streaks of light on the sky. I feel Nick sit down next to and look up.

"They're coming."

I nod. "Good." Suddenly, I'm exhausted and just want to go to sleep, cuddled in his arms. All that anger I felt a few minutes ago drains away as I yawn.

"You sleepy?" He asks.

I nod, resting my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I deserved it. I messed up tonight."

"Yeah, but I've messed up way worse and you always forgive me," I lift my head off and look up at him, "Why do you always forgive me, Nick?"

He stares at me, and I'm trying to figure out what he's thinking about? Is he going to confess his undying love for me?

No, he's not.

Instead, he says, "Shh. You're tired, go to sleep. I'll wake you up when they get here."

I nod, too exhausted to argue. I lay down on the little plastic sofa type thingy with my head on Nick's lap and my legs curled up to fit into it. I close my eyes, losing myself to sleep only a minute later.

:] –

**Hey, everyone! :) I like this chapter. I worked really hard on it so I hope you guys liked it as well. **

**Reviews? Please? Thanks, anyways. :)**


	7. No Air

**Chapter Seven**

_I'm here alone, didn't wanna leave,  
My heart won't move, it's incomplete.  
If there was a way that I could make you understand…__  
_

It's been two days since mine and Nick's little "walk" and we've avoided each other as much as possible. Or maybe it's just me that's avoiding him. I don't know, he's not tried too hard to talk to me either, so whatever.

Whatever, I don't care.

Stop shaking your head! I don't care. I don't. Seriously. Whatever.

But I can't ignore him anymore, because… well, it's his birthday, although all I've done is wish him happy birthday in the morning so far (which was not awkward at all, noooo). I've tried to talk to him all day, but whenever I worked up the courage to go have a serious conversation with him, he'd either been at sound check or with his band or Demi, or Selena or Joe, and every time I ended up chickening out.

Right now, my make-up artist and my hairstylist are buzzing around me jabbing things in my face and yelling at me to sit straight as I get ready for the show. I know I have to talk to him before the show, or he's going to be sulking throughout, just like he was yesterday. We've got a surprise planned for him during the concert and all and I don't want him to be upset.

A few minutes later, I'm finally allowed to get off that miserable chair and I look at the time to see that I still have ten minutes left before I have to be on stage. Perfect. I set out on my mission to talk to Nick and am glad when I find him sitting all alone in his dressing room, guitar in hand.

I was right, he was sulking.

"Hey," I say as I walk in, very cautiously, might I add.

"Hi," he says slowly as he looks up at me.

I stare at him; he stares at me and neither of us knows what to say. Maybe I should've had a better plan as to what I was going to say when I actually did find him. Too late now, I guess.

I sigh, "So, how's the birthday going?"

"Pretty mediocre," he says.

Thanks for making me feel horrible, Nick. Geez. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For ruining your birthday."

"You didn't do anything," he says, placing his guitar away.

"Exactly."

"Miles-" he's saying with a sigh, but I cut him off.

"Nick, about the other night, I-"

"We don't have to talk about that," he says, cutting me of this time. I frown. I'm not going down without a fight.

"But we do. I just- When you asked me, I didn't know what to say… And I-"

The sound system cuts me off as I hear mine and Nick's name being announced as needed on stage. I sigh.

"Come on, we got to go," Nick says, walking past me.

I take hold of his arm and he stops, turning to look at me. "We'll talk after, right?"

"Sure," he says with a nonchalant shrug and I feel like smacking him over his head. Doesn't he realize how hard or important this is for me?

But I don't. Instead, I sigh for what must be the tenth time in five minutes and follow him.

:| -

I'm backstage now, watching from the sides while Nick finishes up another song and the crowd is going absolutely wild. They love him. It's like he's a different person when he's on stage. He's not self-conscious or shy and exudes confidence, which is quite hot.

He looks a bit worn out though, and I guess it could have been because he seemed a bit too extra emotional on stage today. I felt like running out there and giving him a massive hug and telling him to chill out. Seriously.

In walks Joseph with a huge grin on his face.

"So, as you guys probably know, it's my little brother's birthday!" he says and the crowd got louder, if that was even possible. Nick frowns; I know how he hates being called that, especially since he's convinced that he's more than or at least in the same level of maturity as Joe. Joe knows he hates it too, which is probably the reason why he said it.

"I'm barely little anymore, Joseph, I'm twenty," he says and everyone laughs, although the look of irritation on his face looks very real. I feel like shaking him and yelling at him to lighten up. It's his birthday; must he be so serious and moody even today?

Joe annoys him even further by ruffling his hair (which is not that much, anyways). "I know."

Nick swats his hand away and I can't help but smile at the sight. They are adorable, even though they would dig up a grave and bury me alive if they ever heard me say that.

"Alright, so what's a birthday without any cake, right?" Says Joe.

There are two guys rolling out a table a table that holds a gorgeous cake with a banner saying "Happy 20th Nick!". He smiles slightly when he sees it. Demi and Selena, his band, his team and everyone else is walking on stage as they sing happy birthday, but I'm still standing in my spot, looking at him, frowning. I have a nagging feeling that something's not right.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear-"

I wasn't even singing but my voice is the loudest when I scream his name, not because of excitement, because he has just fallen… in the middle of the stage and all those people. A collective gasp is heard throughout the stadium but everyone's just standing there, not doing anything.

Before I can even understand what's happened, my feet are moving on their own accord, sprinting towards Nick's limp body on the stage. I push through the people gathered around him and only stop when I'm next to him. I fall to my knees silently. He's fainted… I think.

"Nick?" I say quietly as I stare at him helplessly. He doesn't answer me and I can feel the panic creeping through me. I'm too scared to touch him, though; otherwise I would've been shaking him like crazy.

"Nick?" I repeat, a bit louder this time but I get no answer again.

"Someone get the doctor!" Someone yells from behind me and a minute later, I'm being pulled away by Joe as the paramedics are hauling Nick off in a stretcher. Only then do I realize that I've got tears running down my cheeks.

I'm lead backstage and we all crowd into my dressing room and by 'we', I mean Joe, Demi, Selena and I. No one is saying anything.

About fifteen minutes passes before the tour manager walks into the room. All four of us are looking at him expectantly.

"Nick's Ok," he says and we all let out sighs of relief.

Thank God. If he'd died on me, I would've killed him.

"What happened?" Asks Demi.

"Well, he hadn't taken his insulin properly today because he claims to have been preoccupied, and his blood sugar got really low from performing…"

I felt like a ton of bricks just fell over me. He forgot his insulin, and I can't help but blame myself; I can't help but think that maybe if I'd tried talking to him earlier, he wouldn't have been so preoccupied. I have never felt worse in my life.

"…And he's being taken to the doctor now for a checkup just in case, but right now you lot need to get back on stage."

"What? I can't perform now," I say incredulously.

"You have to, the fans are already here. We promised them a show, and we're going to give them a show, even if Nick's not going to be there."

I could tell that the conversation was not open for argument so I obliged (although not too keenly) and then my make-up artist was yelling at me once again to sit still so she could do some damage control on the places where my tears had spoilt the make-up she'd spent so long perfecting.

:[ -

It's one o' clock in the night and I can't sleep. After the concert was over, we were brought back to the hotel; having being told that Nick needed some rest and therefore we wouldn't be travelling tonight. We were also told that he was still at the hospital and that they didn't know when he'd get back, so none of us have seen him since he fainted.

I can't sleep, though, no matter how hard I try. I keep wondering if he's Ok and I keep wondering if that wouldn't have happened if I had handled things differently.

I've been reassured a hundred million times by a hundred million different people that he's fine, but I need to see him. I've tried his phone but it's switched off. I could just walk across the hall and knock on his door, but I don't know if he's back yet, or if he is, if he's sleeping.

But I just can't anymore. I can't possibly wait until morning, I might go mad. So I leave my room, locking it behind me and knock on the door opposite mine. I don't even know if this is his room, but all of us have rooms next to each other and I saw the others go into the other rooms, so I'm guessing this'd be it.

Did that make sense? I don't know, not much makes sense in my head right now except that I need to see him.

A few seconds later, the door opens and it's Nick standing there in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes.

Oh, so he was asleep. But I don't care about that, really, as I launch myself onto him, hugging him as tight as I possibly could. Nick grunts at the sudden unexpected weight on him but laughs slightly as he catches me and wraps his arms around me as well.

The relief washing over me is unbelievable. He's Ok, I believe them now.

I pull away smiling. He's smiling back at me as well. Then my smile slips away, replaced with a frown. I punch his arm, "Why'd you do that for?"

"Ow," he says, rubbing the spot that I'd just punched. He's giving me a small, weak smile, "Take it easy on me tonight?"

I shake my head as I push past him and step into the room. He closes the door and follows me.

I turn to him, "Do you know how terrified I was?"

He reaches for my shoulders, pushing me down to sit on the sofa. He sits down next to me. "I'm sorry?"

"The hell you are. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

He laughs. He thinks I'm just being dramatic, but I'm not. "I'm sorry about that too. But hey, I'm Ok, you're Ok… _we're_ Ok." He says, leaning forward and I can't help but notice that his eyes have lost a little bit of their sparkle. He's exhausted, I can tell.

"We are?"

He nods, "Totally."

I sigh. "Nick, I feel like I should explain to you about the other-"

"You don't have to," he says cutting me off.

"But I do! When you built up the courage to ask me, I was-I was just-"

He sighs, "Miley, stop."

"…But I just wasn't sure, maybe I should have told you that-"

"Miles…"

"Stop interrupting me!"

"Then stop talking about this!"

"Why don't you want to talk about this?"

"Because I can't handle it!"

"What are you even talking about?" I say, incredulously. By now, we've managed to accomplish a full blown yelling session.

"I can't handle, it! Damn it, Miley, I don't need you to spell it out for me. I get it, alright."

No, he doesn't. And that's the thing isn't it, he just doesn't get it. And if he would just shut his big mouth up for just a minute, then I would be able to make him understand. But he won't and it's driving me crazy. I feel like I need to get it out before my heart bursts, or maybe just before my veins pop because I'm so damn nervous.

And he's still going on about some shit that I don't even know what he's talking about and all that's running in my mind is like a flashing neon sign is "KISS HIM! KISS HIM! KISS HIM!".

And that's exactly what I find myself doing in precisely the next three seconds.

:D –

**Finally, right? Lol. :)**

**Reviews? **


	8. Na Na Na

**Chapter Eight**

_We've got a bit of love/hate;  
You take me to the edge then we hit the brakes;  
I-I-I say it's over one day, but then I'm crawling back begging you to stay.  
We make up and we break up all the time._

_I'll say that I hate a song, then you'll go request it the whole night long;  
Some people say it's so wrong but even when we fight girl you turn me on,  
We make up and we break up all the time…_

One minute he's blabbering away, and the next I'm kissing him; then he's kissing me back; then we're not kissing anymore. I'm standing up and dragging him up with me; I kiss him again and before I know it, we've both fallen onto the bed and he's hovering over me.

I reach up and run my fingers into his hair before pulling him back down again. Now that I've gotten a taste of what I've been missing all along, I can't get enough.

He pulls away and I groan, not very happy with the loss of contact. We're breathing heavily, trying to get as much Oxygen as possible when I try to pull him back down and he stops me. I frown.

He laughs in between breaths, "Let me breathe, Miley."

"Breathing's overrated," I tell him with a smile.

He laughs again before placing a kiss on my cheek and rolling off of me to the other side of the bed. We're both staring at the ceiling, the only sound coming from the TV that's playing in the background that we didn't bother turning off.

It's quiet between us. Too quite, maybe.

"What just happened?" he says, eventually.

I smile, "Do you need a replay?"

"Miles…" He rolls onto his side and I look at him, "_You _said no."

I know what he means. He means that I said no when he asked me if I would say yes if he asked me out.

"I lied."

"Why?"

I shrug, "I don't know…"

"You're lying again."

This is one conversation I do not want to have. I wish we could just fast forward through it and move onto the part where we get our happy ending. I push myself up and place a hand on his cheek. His eyes are burning through mine, waiting for an answer and I don't know what to give them. I lean into him to kiss him so he'll forget about it but he grabs my arm and stops me.

"No," he says.

Ouch. I couldn't pretend that didn't hurt, because it did and I'm sure the look on my face gave it away.

I sigh, falling back on the bed. "I don't know what you want to hear, Nick."

"I just want to know why…"

"Ok, look. That night, you took me completely by surprise and I panicked. And then when I tried to talk to you, you wouldn't let me because you were in a really pissy mood and being all cranky."

"I was being cranky?" He looks at me incredulously.

"Yes!"

"No," he says slowly, as if he were talking to a two-year old, "You were the one being all mean and—"

"Don't say it," I warn him.

"What?"

"Bitchy."

"I wasn't going to say that," he denies.

I narrow my eyes, "You did that day."

He sighs, "Why are you being so difficult? Besides, if you had just said yes, then I wouldn't have been in a bad mood and we could have avoided a whole lot of drama!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"I don't think you did, actually," he says matter-of-factly and I want to punch him for being so damn technical. Maybe I haven't actually said I'm sorry, but I've though it about a hundred million times. Doesn't that count for something?

"So that's what this is all about?" I ask him and he stares back at me blankly. "Payback?" I say, a bit louder.

"What are you even talking about?" he says, sounding exasperated.

"Are you trying to take revenge on me for saying no to you the first time by rejecting me now?"

"No! God, Miley, why do you have to twist everything around?"

I think I should mention that we've managed to accomplish a full blown shouting session and we continue to throw words at each other that neither of us means. It's always the same with Nick and I, the smallest disagreement could lead to a break-up.

After all that shouting comes a moment when we just run out of things to say and just stare at each other. We're both breathing hard, like we were after making out, only under slightly different circumstances.

"I'm going go to go…" I say and before he can say anything else, I've turned around and run out of the room. I hear him sigh from behind me and call my name a couple of times but I ignore him and only stop once I'm safely behind the locked doors of my hotel room.

As I stay there, with my back against the door and my eyes watering, I realize that I was delusional to believe that I could kiss him and everything would just fall back into place. In fact, all it's done is screw things up even more. How am I ever going to face him again?

What I can't explain, though, is the way I felt tonight when I saw him unconscious on stage, like somehow, I was responsible; like if he didn't wake up, nothing in this world would be fine again. I felt like my heart had dropped a hundred feet. I felt like I couldn't live without him.

One thing I can live without are these stupid fights that we somehow manage to get into all the bloody time, though.

Ugh. He frustrates me so much.

And you know how I know that I really am screwed? The fact that even after all of this, I want to go back and kiss him and fall asleep in his arms is how I know.

I have to have some self-restraint, though. I am a self-respecting, strong, famous, beautiful woman. I don't need stupid Nick Jonas. I'm happy by myself. I won't feel the need to kiss him until my lips are falling off every time I see him.

Yeah, that's right. Plan: Forget Nick Jonas. Move the fuck on (I mean, it's been six years, for God's sake)!

A knock on the door makes me jump. "Who-who is it?" I say.

"It's Nick."

Oh God, if I see him now my plan is going to go down the drain.

"What do you want?"

He sighs, "To talk to you."

"We talked already."

"No, we yelled at each other. I meant I want to have a real conversation with you."

I stay quiet. Should I open the door? No, what I need is to stay focused. But I can't just leave him standing out in the hallway, can I? That's a little mean. But he has no business coming knocking on my door after what just happened. But I have to let him in, I mean, he's not well, I'm not that heartless. But I can't.

Dear Lord, help me!

"Miley… Please open the door…"

And so… I open the door. Don't judge me, you didn't hear the way he said it, all cute and desperate. I couldn't resist.

I stare at him. "What?"

New plan: act like I don't care.

He sighs; he knows he's going to need to try hard. Good. "Can we go in?"

I shrug, "Sure."

He sighs again and runs his fingers through his hair (the glorious one that he had to cut down like the stupid idiot he is). "Miles…"

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fought with you like that…" That's right, buddy. "But you didn't make it any better either." What? The nerve—

Although, he is right. I didn't make it any better. But see, that's the thing with us, once we get into an argument, we just think of things that will piss the other off and then say them.

"All I want," he continues, "All I want is to know where we stand."

His brows are furrowed, his eyes are the softest shade of brown and his lips are pressed into a tight line. He's waiting for my reply and all I can think of is how cute he looks even when he's worried.

Focus, Miley.

"Nick… I don't know what-"

"No, just tell me, do you want to be with me?"

I look at him. I mean, really look at him. He looks really tired and drained, yet here he is, waiting for me to give him an answer. I smile, reaching up to place a hand on the back of his neck, "Yes."

He looks surprised for a moment and then his lips stretch into the biggest grin ever, "Really?"

I nod.

He scoops me into his arms, holding me tight like as if he's afraid that I might run away if he let go, and says, "For real this time? No lies?"

I laugh, "Yes, Nick!"

He leans down and kisses me and I can almost hear romantic symphonies being played somewhere far away, like a scene from a romance movie. He pulls away, as if in slow motion and I'm unable to keep that whimper slash choking sound from slipping out. I haven't been kissed like that in a while. Damn, I missed it.

Nick's grinning at me as his arms tighten around my waist and he picks me off the ground. I squeal at the sudden motion but he just laughs and continues to carry me to the bed before leaning down and dropping me on it gently. He then lays down on the others side and once again wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him, my back facing his chest. His lips are immediately on my neck, placing soft kisses on them and making me squirm. I'm extremely ticklish on my neck and he knows that.

We just lay there for a few minutes in silence as I play with his fingers. I think both of us just want to savour this moment in which everything seems perfectly fine.

"So are you, like my boyfriend now?" I ask him with a smile.

I feel his lips stretch into a smile along my neck, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"I like that," I murmur.

"Mhm," he hums, snuggling into my back, "Me too…" and within seconds, he's out like a light.

I sigh contentedly, hugging his arms. I just want to stay in this moment forever. I try falling asleep, but I find that it's extremely difficult to come down from the high I'd gotten from being kissed by Nick like that. Eventually, though, I do fall asleep and before I know it, its morning and I'm being jolted awake by a squealing Demi.

Nick groans and rolls away from me. I sigh, opening one eye to see Demi standing over me with a smirk, her hands on her hips.

"Holy shit, Miley. What the hell happened last night?"

:D –

**HEY!**

**I know it's late. But I hope it was worth the wait? Haha. Anyways, I hope you'll review! Much love to all of you. :) Bye. **


	9. All Star

**Chapter Nine**

_My world's on fire, how about yours?  
That's the way I like it and I'll never get bored._

It's been a week… seven glorious days since Nick and I have been back together.

I've loved ever moment of these seven days. Every night we spend together in hotel rooms and during the day we somehow find excuses to be around each other (which is not really that hard, because we are on tour together and we do live on the same tour bus).

But we haven't told anyone yet, well, obviously except Demi because she caught us. But I'd managed to make her promise to keep her mouth shut. It's not like I want to keep it a secret from everyone forever, it's just that it's been such a short time since we'd been back together and we wanted our relationship to be ours alone before we started bringing our friends into it.

Plus, it's also kind of exciting all this sneaking around. I feel like a rebellious teenager.

It's not like I don't want to jump into his arms and have him kiss me senseless every time I see him, like for example now when he's standing across from as I'm backstage preparing for the concert that starts in a few minutes and he's talking to one of his band members, looking all handsome in his white v-neck (which he must own a hundred or so of) and sports jacket. But, I know that I've got to keep my self-control in check.

Damn me for being so responsible.

Woah. When did that happen? See? See what he does to me?

I slip my phone out to check the time and see that there is half an hour left before I have to be on stage, which is plenty of time to kidnap Nick for a few minutes.

I decide to go to my dressing room and send Nick a text asking him to come there and I'm walking towards it when I feel a pair of hands grab me and pull me into… what is this place? It's dark and feels very claustrophobic and I'm thinking it might be a storage closet of some sort.

I'm about to scream bloody murder when I feel a palm being pressed over my mouth while another hand grabs my waist and pushes my back into the wall, which makes me panic even more, until I find out it's just stupid Nick, and not some crazy ass psycho person.

"Shhh," he's saying, "It's me, Nick."

When he's confident that I've heard him and therefore calmed down, he removes his hand from my mouth and I hear him fumbling around before finding a light switch and turning it on before he has his hands on my waist again.

"Fuck, Nick. What the fucking hell?" I say once I've managed to get my breathing into control.

He laughs. "Sorry, I just wanted –needed- to see you… alone."

So he was planning to kidnap me while I was planning to kidnap him? Talk about compatibility.

I feel myself smiling now that I've managed to completely calm down. "Why did need to see me alone so desperately?"

"So I can do this," he says before leaning in and kissing me. It starts out sweet and innocent and then quickly becomes… not so innocent.

I'm in absolute bliss. That is before he pulls away and drags me out of it. But I guess we had to breathe.

My eyes are still closed as I try and savour the moment with a smile on my face. "Mmm," is all I can get out.

I feel him kissing me lightly on my forehead and open my eyes. God, I missed him. Ok, so we've been around each other all day but we couldn't kiss or cuddle or hold each other because there were others around.

My hands are on his chest, so I grab the material of his jacket in my fists and drag him towards me once again, but he stops me. I frown.

"Stop crushing my jacket, I have to perform in front of thousands of people in a few minutes. I can't be wearing a crinkled jacket!"

I roll my eyes at his perfectionism. He would be the only person in the world who would be worrying about a crinkled shirt when his girlfriend's about to kiss him.

"Seriously? I ask him as I let go of his stupid, precious shirt.

"Sorry," he says, putting on his best cute face because he knows I'm annoyed as he takes my hand and put them back on his chest, "You can crush it all you want, baby."

I can't help but laugh at him as my hands go up and around his neck instead. "You are such a pain in the ass."

He smiles, placing his hands on either side of me on the wall and leaning in close, "So are you… most of the time."

"So charming as well," I say sarcastically, although I know he normally is, you know, minus his moments of idiocy.

He chuckles and says nothing but kisses me again instead, which you know, I don't really have a problem with.

:] –

Later on that night after the concert, Joe's come up with what he thinks is the most perfect idea. He suggested that we all crash in one of our hotel rooms together and have a slumber party. How girly is that?

And I absolutely hate it. I mean, normally I would be up for anything that can be scarcely described as a party, but tonight I'd been looking forward to spend some time alone with Nick because the previous night, we'd been travelling and I couldn't exactly be alone with him in a tour bus filled with people.

Ok, so I tried to get him to make-out once everyone fell asleep but he wouldn't go past a couple of kisses because he thought someone might wake up suddenly and catch us. And then he forced me to go to sleep because I'd mentioned earlier to him that I was kind of tired.

But anyways, my point is that I hate Joe for taking away my alone time with Nick but when he asked why we shouldn't do it, I couldn't find any plausible excuse to give him so here I am in my pajamas as Joe and Nick battle it out on Guitar Hero and Demi and Selena are pouring over the room service menu so they can order an impossible amount of food which is indefinitely going to make us want to throw up after we've eaten it all.

"Miles, do you think we should get the fries or the onion rings?"

I shrug as I watch the boys; I mean, they're going to decide to get them both anyways, so why does it matter.

"Hmm," she says Selena, "Maybe we should get both."

"Both it is!" agrees Demi.

I told you so.

Joe starts jumping up and down as the round comes to an end; turns out he's won it. "I won, I won, I won!" he says and then turns to Nick, "In your face!"

Nick is pouting, "You just got lucky."

"Sooooore loserrrr!"

Nick grumbles something and comes up to me and sits down next to me. I laugh and he turns to me, still pouting. I rub his arm soothingly; I know how much he hates losing.

Joe goes over to Demi and Selena and whispers something to them after which they all start giggling. I narrow my eyes wondering what they're giggling about, but I'm quickly distracted by Nick who's pulling on my hand.

"You want to play with me?

I raise an eyebrow, "You're only asking me because you know I suck at that game and you want to win."

He huffs and slumps back onto the couch, "Fine."

I smile slightly and lean into his ear, "We can do something else that you are very good at, though."

He looks at me for a moment and then he realizes what I'm talking about and shakes his head disapprovingly. I groan, "Come on, we can sneak outside for a bit. I'm sure they won't realize."

"I'm sure they would," he tells me.

Ok, so they would. But I can't help it; he's so close, yet so far away.

I sigh, "We didn't even get to finish what we started earlier…" I mumble.

"_Miles…_"

"What? I just want—"

"Come on, you know we can't."

"Alright, fine. Whatever." I say in what I hope is a nonchalant tone and pick up the remote, switching the TV on and flipping through the channels although I'm not really watching what's happening on screen.

A few seconds passes before I feel his fingers on my waist, slowly rubbing gentle circles on it, "Are you mad at me?"

I sigh and close my eyes. I know I can't be mad at him; I mean, I agreed to keeping this thing a secret as well, it was not just his decision only. "I guess not."

He smiles, "Good." And then his fingers are gone just like that.

I sigh and turn to the other three, in an attempt to find something else to do, "When's the food coming?"

"In a little bit," says Selena.

I groan, "This is the worst slumber party I've ever been to."

Turns out I offended Joe by calling his slumber party the worst, so from then on he was determined to make us do whatever crazy idea he came up with, which included a karaoke contest, a dance off, a "Things we would never wear in public" fashion show, eating all the food and a pillow fight. By the time we'd all fallen to the floor laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe, it was three in the night (morning?) and we were beyond exhausted.

We then each chose a spot (the bed was off limits for tonight, so was the couch) on the floor and fell asleep.

I don't know why but I woke up in the morning at five fourty-five even though I had been so tired by the time I'd fallen asleep. My eyes darted over to the balcony and I could see the first few tinges of sunlight. I got up and wrapped my blanket around my shoulders, unlocking the balcony door as quietly as possible and walking out.

I felt a cold breeze blow over and pulled the blanket closer, but I couldn't bring myself to go back in because of the beautiful view that was highlighted by the soft morning glow.

The next few minutes passed in complete silence but then a voice cut through it, making me jump, "Hey. What're you doing up at this time?"

I turned around to see Nick standing there; I smiled and shrugged. He smiled back at me and walked up to me, pulling the blanket away and replacing it with his arms that wrapped around me from behind.

I smile softly as he places his chin on my shoulder and say to him, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" By now the sun had risen up a bit more and I was wondering why I didn't get up this early every single day time to witness this beauty.

"Not as beautiful as you."

I laugh at his cheesy comment, which I should have known was coming, anyways.

"Nick?"

"Hmm?"

I pull his arms away from around me and pull him to face me, "Will you kiss me now?"

He smiles and nods slowly while bringing one of his hands up to my cheek and pulling me closer before my eyes flutter close at the feeling of his lips on mine.

A few seconds pass by before I decide I've had enough of all this gentle kissing. I pull away to catch a quick breath before I kiss him again, hard and fast. I push him onto the railing and his hands jump to them as he holds on for dear life and I can't decide if it's because of how we're kissing or because he's afraid he might fall over.

Either way, I'm not really thinking about it as I continue to kiss him like it's the last time I'd kiss anybody. He groans when my fingers go the back of his head and my nails scratch his head.

A few seconds later, we pull away when oxygen becomes absolutely necessary.

"Wow," he breathes through his gasps for air.

I grin; decide I can't really wait until we finish catching our breaths to have his lips back on mine and lean in once again. He kisses me back for a few seconds before pulling away again.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"Miles, the others are just over there," he says, pointing to where Joe, Selena and Demi are fast asleep.

"So what, they're sleeping."

"They could wake up any minute, and if they saw us kissing, they'd know."

"Demi knows already," I say, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Yeah, but Joe and Selena don't," he says.

"Well, what's the big deal if they know, anyways?"

Nick frowns, "I thought you wanted to keep this a secret."

"I do. But I don't really mind Joe and Selena knowing. Demi already does, so it's just two more people."

"But you said-"

I groan, "I know what I said, Nicholas, but now I'm saying that it wouldn't be so horrible if our friends know."

"So you're saying we should tell them?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"But-"

"And besides, if they knew, we wouldn't have to be so careful what we say or do all the time seeing as they're with us everywhere we go."

"But you said it would better if we kept it a secret."

"You know what you're problem is, Nick?" I say and he looks at me challengingly, "You're problem is that you make a big deal out of the stupidest things; you take things way too seriously."

"So what you're saying is I shouldn't take our relationship seriously?"

"That's not what I meant."

"But that's what you said," he says slowly.

I groan, throwing my hands up in frustration. "Just forget about it," I say and walk back into the room. I pull my pillow which Joe is now cuddling with away from him and lie back down, trying to go to sleep. Before I can fall asleep though, I feel someone walk up beside me and kneel down. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that it's Nick, does it?

His fingers brush my cheek softly, "Baby…"

I pretend to not hear him. "Miles, I know you're awake."

I don't say anything and he says, "If I need to, I'll pour a bucket of cold water on you to get you to acknowledge me."

My eyes shoot open, and then narrow when I see his smirk, "You wouldn't dare."

He shrugs, "But now we'll never know."

I groan, "Go away."

He sighs, "You were right, I'm making a big deal out of nothing. We should just tell them."

"Really?" I say and sit up slowly, surprised that he's given in so soon.

He nods, "Really."

I smile, "Ok."

Before I think of anything to say, Nick's picked up my pillow and smacked Joe with it, which makes him sit up and curse loudly. I can't help but laugh. Demi groans as she wakes up as well and goes, "What the hell's going on?" which in turn wakes Selena up. They all look so confused and sleepy.

Ok, so when he said we could tell them, I didn't realize he meant right now.

Once all of them have –somewhat- gained consciousness, Joe says, "Why the hell did you do that, Nick?"

"Miley and I have something to tell you," he says.

"What is it?" Selena says, yawning slightly.

Nick turns to look at me with a goofy grin, "We're… back together."

I smile back, waiting for the confusion and questions. But all I get is a "Yeah, so what?" from Joe.

My smile slips away as I turn to him and I hear Nick say, "What do you mean, so what? Did you already know?"

Joe suddenly looks like as if he's said something he shouldn't have, and says, "I mean, wow, really, when did that happen? I'm so- I'm so surprised! Wow, guys!"

I narrow my eyes, "Demi, I cannot believe you told them!"

"Hey! Why do you automatically assume it's my fault?"

I look to Selena because I know she wouldn't lie, "Who told you guys?"

"Demi did," she says indifferently, ignoring the look Demi was giving her.

"And for how long have you known?"

"Um.. Let me see, uh... six days."

I groan, "So you kept it a secret for exactly a day? I can't believe you! Who else did you tell?"

"No one, I swear!" she says.

"That better be true, or else you're a dead woman."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, can we go back to sleep now?" she asks as she falls back onto her pillow.

Joe and Selena follow her as Joe grumbles, "I can't believe you guys woke us up so early to tell us what we already knew, seriously!"

I'm about to protest when I feel Nick sigh, "Don't bother, Miles."

"But-" I begin, but he leans in and gives me a soft kiss, which makes me smile. It makes me smile wider when I realize he kissed me front of the others, which he normally wouldn't. He smiles back at me and kisses my forehead which makes me sigh happily.

But of course, Demi ruins our moment by saying, "Aww that is so disgustingly sweet that it makes me want to smile while throwing up."

;] –

**Helloooo. I know, I know, it's late, but that's why I wrote you guys an extra long chapter. Hope you liked it. :)**

**Reviews, please? **


	10. Home

**Chapter Ten**

_It's a long way from.  
Miami to L.A.  
It's a longer way from yesterday,  
To where I am today._

_It's a long way from my thoughts,  
To what I'll say.  
It's a long, long way from paradise,  
To where I am today._

We're here!

Where you ask? In New Jersey! We just passed a sign that said 'Welcome to New Jersey'.

And we're going to be here for the next three days. Tonight, we've got a show to do and then we've got tomorrow and the day after off. Tomorrow's the wedding of Nick's mom's brother's wife's sister's daughter (if I got that right), and we've all been invited!

I'm so excited to be going to a wedding. I mean, I'm pretty sure that Selena, Demi and I were only invited because we were there with Nick and Joe and they didn't want to seem rude by just ignoring us, but still… a wedding!

...Like the one that I was supposed to be having.

Oh great, now I've got that stuck in my head.

Never mind, I'm going to try and forget about that and focus on the positive things in my life: I've got Nick back, I've got my music back, and I've got my friends back (Joe, Demi, Selena). When I think of it that way, Liam was the one holding me back from all these amazing things, really.

Psh, who needs Liam.

I'm not going to pretend like my heart doesn't twinge at the thought of him or how I was supposed to be getting married to him, but I will say that that twinge has been getting duller and duller as the days pass by.

My eyes drift off towards Joe and Nick, who are having some sort of arm wrestling war over by the counter. They never really get tired of competing against each other no matter how old they get, do they? Nick wins the round and pumps his fist up the air, looking over at me and grinning.

I smile back and then without any warning, the butterflies set in. The realization that I haven't seen Nick's mom or dad in over four years makes my stomach cramp. Normally, I wouldn't be nervous about something like this, but I know how much his parents' opinions matter to Nick. What if his mother didn't approve of me anymore?

I shake my head to try and rid of that thought, trying to convince myself that I was being paranoid. I mean, they used to love me. Just because I haven't really spoken to them or seen them in a while doesn't mean they don't like me anymore, right?

I don't really have any more time to obsess over it, though, since Joe's suddenly yelling, "We're here! We're here!"

And sure enough, the bus has come to a stop outside of a beautiful house complete with a lawn, a white picket fence, flower bushes and everything else.

Before I can even stand up, Joe's running out of the door, closely followed by Nick. I pull down my plaid button up shirt that I've got over a pair of black pants and walk out behind Demi and Selena.

Joe's hugging his mother saying, "Mommy, I missed you!"

Nick is standing beside him, thoroughly annoyed with the fact that Joe won't either let go of their mother or let Nick hug her. I'm pretty sure he's doing it on purpose just to annoy Nick, not that he couldn't have missed his mother. Denise notices and laughs, pulling Joe off and hugging Nick.

They pull away and Denise looks at Nick closely, "How are you doing, Nick? Everything Ok? How's your blood sugar? I almost had a heart attack when I heard you fainted on stage!"

Nick rolls his eyes playfully, "I'm fine, mom. See," he says and stops to take a deep breath in, "I'm breathing."

Denise shakes her head, "You know I worry about you, sweetie."

"I know, I promise I'll be more careful."

Joe's grumbling something about how no one asked him how he was doing when the three of us walk over to them.

Denise flashes her million dollar smile at the three of us, pulling us each into a hug. When she's hugging me, she says, "Wow, Miley, how long has it been? You've sure grown up since the last time I saw you. You look great, dear!"

I blush, "Um… thanks Mrs. Jonas, you look great as well."

She does. I wasn't even just only saying that to impress the mother-of-the-boyfriend.

She laughs, brushing the compliment off, "How many times do I have to remind you to call me Denise?"

"Right," I say as she moves on to Demi and Selena.

See? Didn't I tell my stupid, over-analyzing brain that it was just being paranoid? She seems to not care or not remember the fact that all three of us have been ex-girlfriends of either one of her sons at some point in the past, and also, you know, that I'm a current one of Nick's.

We all chat pleasantly as we walk into the house where greeted by an ever calm and collected Mr. Jonas. The whole troop then goes into the living room.

Just then, Frankie comes running into the room and tackles Nick and Joe together. We all laugh at how cute the whole scenario is. Then he scrambles off the floor and yells each of our names out and hugs us, not as if we had just seen each other after four years.

"You guys make yourself comfortable," says Denise, "Dinner will be ready in an hour."

"Oh, well, we need to get settled into our hotel rooms anyways. Why don't we come back in an hour?" Says Demi as she stands up. Selena and I nod, following her

"Oh no! You guys aren't going anywhere. We've got plenty of rooms in the house, you can stay here."

"Uh… we don't want to be any trouble," I offer.

"Nonsense, dear. You're all staying here and I don't want to hear any arguments. You can get settled into your rooms, if you would like to. I'm sure Nick and Joe wouldn't mind showing you to them."

"Sure," they say.

The three of us then follow Nick and Joe upstairs and are each given a room. Demi gets the guest bedroom, Selena gets Kevin's old room, and I get Frankie (who grudgingly agreed to sleep in one of his brothers' room for the night)'s bedroom.

Nick stands at the door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face as I fall on the bouncy bed over and over again.

"Miles, stop," he says, laughing.

I do, and lay on my back, grinning. I lift my head to look at him and see that he hasn't moved.

"Frankie was pretty upset he had to give his room up," I say.

"He'll get over it," he says.

"I don't know, maybe we should give it back. I mean, I could always sleep with you."

His eyebrow shoots upwards, "Sleep with me, as in?"

I roll my eyes, "In your bed."

"Aw, snap."

I shake my head, laughing as I get off the bed and walk up to him, grabbing the collar of his shirt, "You're all talk, you know," I say, challenging him with my stare.

He raises his eyebrow again, "Really?"

I nod, "Really."

"I think you're just saying that to get me to kiss you," he says.

I grin at him, leaning in until our foreheads are touching, "Is it working?"

He hums against my lips before tugging my bottom lip in between his teeth before kissing me. Before long, his hands are gripping my waist and my arm has slung itself around his neck, bringing him as close to me as I possibly can.

We pull away slowly, foreheads still touching and both of us smiling.

"I have to go help my mom," he says as he retracts his hands from me.

I pout, "Do you have to?"

"I do," he says, pouting back teasingly.

I sigh dramatically, pushing him on his chest, "Fine, go. Leave me all alone."

He laughs, kissing my cheek softly, "Stop being a drama queen. I'll be downstairs."

And then he leaves. I sigh, going over and falling back onto the bed once again, smiling wide. I don't know why, but I can't seem to stop doing that since the time we arrived here. For once, everything seems perfect.

:] –

I pull on my drawstring pants and an old baggy Simpsons t-shirt and then pull my hair into a pony-tail.

Dinner was nice; everybody made polite conversation and the food was amazing. We'd helped Denise clean up afterwards and then sat around the living room playing games. Then we'd all retreated to our bedrooms to get ready for bed.

I walk into the bathroom, wash my face and then reach for my toothbrush only to realize that there was no toothpaste. I figure Frankie must have taken his along with his brush, so I go downstairs to ask Denise if she had any.

I'm outside the kitchen when I hear Nick's voice and stop to listen. It's not like I wanted to eavesdrop, but Nick sounded pretty annoyed and that made me stop in my tracks.

"…Mom, will you let it go?" He was saying with a sigh.

Then I heard Denise say, "I'm just saying, honey. She would probably say yes if you asked."

I frown. What were they talking about?

"I told you already, mom, she has a boyfriend."

"Who, that Justin kid? Oh, she can't be serious about him!"

What's going on? I'm confused. Is Denise trying to get Nick to ask Selena out? Why would she deliberately do that when she knew Nick and I were together?

"Well, it doesn't matter, anyways. I'm not asking her out."

"Why not? You guys would be perfect for each other!"

And then I realized why… because he hasn't told her. His mom thinks that he's single. That's why both, she and Nick's dad were so cool earlier; not because they didn't mind us dating, but because they didn't know we were.

I feel my heart pang.

Unable to stand there and listen to the conversation anymore, I am about to turn back around and run back upstairs when I hear Denise calling my name.

Shit.

Nick's head whips around at the sound of my name. He looks worried as I walk towards them slowly.

"Everything Ok, Miley?" Denise says sweetly.

I clear my throat awkwardly, trying to think of why I'd come downstairs in the first place. Oh, right, toothpaste.

"Uh… yeah, I, uh, was wondering if-if you had some spare toothpaste. Um… Frankie must have taken his... I think…" I trail off lamely.

"Sure, hold on, I'll be right back," she says and walks out of the kitchen, leaving Nick and I alone.

I walk over to the counter, pouring myself a glass of water and sipping on it slowly, keeping my back to Nick the whole time, although I can feel his eyes follow every move I make.

I know what he's thinking, he's wondering if I'd heard their conversation or not.

"Miles-" he begins.

"What?" I say, cutting him off.

"Did you, uh…"

"Did I what?" I challenge.

He sighs. He knows I did. "I'm sorry, my mom didn't mean that. She was just," another sigh, "She didn't-"

I narrow my eyes, "Oh, I'm not mad at your mom. I'm mad at you."

"Me?" he says.

"Why haven't you told your parents about us?"

He frowns, "I thought-"

"You couldn't have given me a warning? Something along the lines of, 'Hey, Miley, my mom doesn't know we're dating', would have been fine."

"I thought we were keeping this a secret?"

"Not from our parents!"

His frown deepens, "Did you tell yours?"

"Of course I did!"

"Well, I thought we weren't!"

I sigh, shaking my head, "Well, then why couldn't you have told her now, huh? When she was practically forcing you to ask some other girl out, you couldn't have said, 'No ma, I'm dating Miley'?"

"I didn't know what to do!"

I stare at him, "Are you ashamed of me, Nick? Is that why you haven't told them yet?"

"You know that's not true."

I shrug, and wait for him to say something else, but when he doesn't, I walk away and up to my room before I could burst out into tears.

Once inside, I lean against the door and try not to cry. My eyes lands on the shirt and pants I was wearing earlier lying on the bed and then drift over to the open duffel bag sitting on the floor.

By the time I hear a knock on the door, I've stuffed my pants and shirt and some of the other things I'd unpacked back into my bag. I pick it up and walk over to the door, opening it.

Nick stands there, holding a tube of toothpaste. He frowns when he sees the bag in my hands.

"Where are you going?"

I push him aside and walk past him, "You can tell Frankie he can have his room back."

"Miles, where are you going?" he repeats.

"To the hotel."

He sighs, "Its late… and cold outside. Come on, don't go."

"I'll be fine; I'm a big girl," I say as I trudge down the stairs.

"Don't you think you're being a little irrational?" he says as I open the front door and walk outside.

I know it might have seemed that way to him, but spending the whole day in complete delight thinking that everything in my world was finally going right and then finding out that it was simply nothing other than false hope was crushing my heart. And it didn't really reassure me that my boyfriend's mother though that he would be perfect with someone else, and not me.

I turn and glare at him, "Just go back inside, Nick."

"Not until you come with me."

"I'm not coming inside."

"Then I'm not going inside either," he says, crossing his arms.

I roll my eyes, "Suit yourself," I say as I stop a passing taxi and get in before Nick can catch up. The last thing I see when I turn around in my seat to see Nick running his fingers through his hair looking frustrated as we turn the corner and then he disappears from my sight.

:[ -

**Hello, my dear lovelies. :p Hope you liked the chapter. **

**Reviews?**


	11. Mercy

**Chapter Eleven**

_I love you,  
But I gotta stay true.  
My moral's got me on my knees,  
I'm begging please,  
Stop playing games…_

The next day I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing from beside my pillow. I look around the room sleepily wondering where I am, and then I remember.

I'm in a hotel room in New Jersey; I came here after getting into a fight with Nick last night. And I have to go to a wedding today, with him and his family.

I groan, rolling over to the other side and burying my face into the pillow, hoping that the ringing would stop. It does, but just for a few seconds before it starts blaring again. I sigh, sitting up and rubbing my eyes to try and get the sleep out of them. I pick up my phone and check the caller ID. It's Demi.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Good morning to you too, Demetria."

"Cut the crap and answer my question, where are you?"

"I'm at the hotel."

"And why are you at the hotel, might I ask?"

I roll my eyes, "I'm sure Nick already told you."

"No, he didn't. He's been sulking in his room all morning."

"Well, tell him to suck it up and stop being a baby."

"Why don't you come over and tell him yourself."

"I don't want to."

She sighs, "Come on, I'm sure whatever you guys are fighting about this time will get solved. In the meantime, you should come back because neither of his parents knows you're gone and if they did they might start to worry."

"Just tell them I woke up early in the morning and went for a walk."

"So, you're going to come back?"

"No."

"Won't they wonder why you went for a walk and never got back?"

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do. Come back."

"No."

"Come back, Miley."

"Demi, stop it!"

"Come back, Miley."

"Will you stop doing that-?"

"Come back, Miley."

"Fine, I'll come back! Stop nagging me."

I can almost hear her grinning on the other end as she says, "See you in a while!" before hanging up.

;] -

Almost five hours later, I'm regretting listening to Demi, not surprisingly. I hate her. Ugh. Why did she have to make me come back? Can't she have minded her own damn business for once?

Like now when she's trying to stuff me into every dress she lays her eyes on for the past two hours that we'd been trying to find dresses to wear to this stupid wedding. Did I mention I didn't even want to go anymore, cause I don't.

"Miles?" she snaps her fingers in front of my face and I push them away irritated.

"What, Demetria?"

"Would you stop calling me that?!"

"No."

"Selena, tell her to stop being a pissy bitch."

Classy, Demi. Run to Selena when you can't fight with me. Well, if Selena knows what's best for her pretty little face, she'll stay quiet like she has all this while.

"Oh, no, I'm not getting in between you two," she says. Good girl.

Demi rolls her eyes, pulling off a red dress off the rack and shoving it into my arms, "Go try this on."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Just do it, Miley. For the love of God, just do it."

I huff, grabbing it and walking into the dressing room and stripping before pulling it on. I'm still fuming but the minute I turn to look at myself in the mirror, I can feel myself calm down.

I look exceptional, even if I do say so myself. But the dress is amazing. And I guess I should give Demi credit for picking it. I mean, I'm not really mad at her. I'm mad at Nick and I'm taking it out on her because she is the only person that would let me.

I'm mad at Nick because when I went back to the house, he ignored me the whole time and acted as if I weren't even there and I wasn't going to talk to him if he didn't first because I was the one who was supposed to be mad at him. Not the other way around.

Ugh. I hate this. I hate not talking to him. But it still hurts to think that he didn't tell his parents about us.

"Are you dressed?"

I break out of my thoughts and glance at the mirror before walking out. Demi and Selena smile when they see me and tell me that I look great and I realize that I actually like this.

Shopping with my girlfriends… Sharing secrets with them, laughing and having all-nighters with them… I don't really get to do this kind of thing a whole lot, you know?

"I think I'm going to get this," I tell them.

Selena pretends to wipe sweat off her forehead, "Phew. Finally."

I shoot her a warning. They did get their dresses a long time ago and to be completely honest, I just kept turning down dress after dress because I didn't want to go back to the house and I would have had to if we were done shopping.

I change back into my denims and t-shirt and we all pay for our clothes before walking out of the store. And what do you know, there are loads and loads of paparazzi waiting for us outside. I mean, literally, loads. It's so difficult to even find our way what with all the flashing cameras. And needless to say, this dampens my mood even further.

:[ -

"You do know you're going to have to talk to him eventually, don't you?"

I shoot her look asking her to shut up through the mirror in front of which I was currently sitting as she curled my hair.

"What?"

I'm trying to pass you a message, Demetria. Do you not understand that I don't fucking want to talk about him?

"Shut up, Demi."

"God, are you on your period or something?"

That was a low blow, Demetria.

"Demi, I said shut up."

"Fine. Whatever. We need to go now anyways. Denise said the cars would be here to take us at 5 and it's almost time, come on."

I sigh, standing up and smoothing my dress all over to make sure it was perfect and walk downstairs, nodding slightly when Demi tells me she's going to go get Selena.

The whole of the Jonas clan were in the living room. Paul was looking out of the window and talking on his phone, probably waiting for the cars to arrive; Denise was fussing over Joe's tie and at the same time yelling at Frankie not to mess his clothes up because he was running all over the room. Someone must have given that kid too much sugar.

And then there was Nick. He sat on the couch by himself, tapping away on his phone.

Ok, I know I'm mad at him but can I just say how fine he looks in a tuxedo? It's making me want to call a truce for just two minutes so I can kiss him. God, I miss kissing him. It's been almost twenty hour since the last time…

But enough of that. Back to being mad at him.

He looks up from his phone and catches my eye. We stare at each other, albeit no expression for a while before Paul announces that the cars are here. Everybody starts running around and grabbing their bags and checking their ties and checking that their hair is still all in one place.

I'm the first one to walk towards the door, not being able to take anymore of the chaos but am caught off guard by Nick pulling me into the coat room.

"What the f-?"

"Shh!"

Seriously. He has got to stop doing this!

I lean back, which is not really that possible since we are inside a coat closet and cross my arms, trying to act all cool.

"What do you want, Nicholas?"

"For you to stop being mad at me."

"I'll stop being mad at you when you stop being an idiot."

He sighs, running his hands through his short curls and I try my best not to get distracted by them.

"You know this is not going to work, right?"

I blink. "W-what?"

Is he trying to break up with me? My heart breaks into a million little pieces at the thought.

"Miles, we can't keep ignoring each other. That's not going to help. At all."

"Did you tell your parents about us?"

"Not yet, b-"

"Then fuck off."

"Will you let me talk?!"

The truth is, now that I'm really thinking about it, I'm not sure I want him to tell his parents about us. What if they hate me? What if they think that I'm a bad influence on Nick? What if they make him break up with me and then drop out of the tour and make him promise never to see me again?

Oh God.

"W-we have to go. Everyone's leaving. They'll be looking for us," I say, trying to keep my voice from breaking.

"Miley!"

"You know what, leave me alone, Nick! I don't want to hear your whiny voice… whining all night long."

His eyes narrow and his jaw tightens. "Real mature, Miley. Real mature."

He shoots me one last look with his narrowed eyes that were almost like slits now and pushes the door open and leaving with a huff, leaving me all alone with a bunch of coats. I lean my head against the wall, feeling a sob coming up. I shut my eyes tight and tried breathing in and out slowly and imagine myself in my happy place, something I was taught when I was twelve to calm myself down when I used to get really nervous before concerts.

But it's not really helping right now, because my happy place consists of Nick.

I try to swallow but find that my throat is too dry.

:[ -

I rode in the car that Nick didn't and then sat as far away from his as possible at the wedding, which wasn't really that difficult because the Jonases were sitting near the family and Selena, Demi and I sat at the back.

Now we're at the reception and the bride and groom had just had their first dance, which was really sweet. We had met them and they seemed really nice. Too bad there was not one other place where I would rather not be at instead of here right now.

Because standing from across the room and watching Nick flirt with that slutty bridesmaid was pissing me off beyond words.

"Easy, Miles. You're going to break the glass," Demi tells me, eyeing me cautiously.

I look down at my death grip on the glass and realize she's right. I place the glass back on the table where it would probably be safer, and sigh. He was ignoring me before because I was mad at him and now he's ignoring me because I'd pissed him off.

Can this night just be over already?

Demi follows my gaze and then giggles. "You know what he's doing, right?"

"What?" I say, taking my eyes off of my boyfriend for a moment to look at Demi.

"He's trying to make you jealous."

"Well, it's not working."

"The hell it's not."

"Shut up, Demi."

Was the hundredth time I'd told Demi to shut up today, or the millionth? I turned back to look at Nick but the table was empty. I frowned. Where the fuck had he gone? I mean, I looked away for literally like a second.

My eyes scan the room before landing on the dance floor where Nick was dancing the girl. My jaw almost hit the ground. Nick hated dancing and I had never seen him dancing with anybody else but maybe his mom or Demi. What was he doing with that slut?

That was it. I'm not taking it no more.

And no, it's not because I was jealous. It was just because –oh, shut up. I don't need a reason. He's _my _boyfriend.

I go up to them as calmly as possible and tap him on his shoulder. He stops and looks over his shoulder. It takes a second for realization to set in and then he raises his eyebrows as if in question.

I clear my throat, "Y-your mom is looking for you."

His eyebrows inch further upwards, "She's right over there," he says, nodding towards a general direction. I look at where he'd indicated and sure enough there she stood, deep in conversation with a bunch of other people.

"Did I say your mom? I meant- I meant your dad!" I said, chuckling apologetically.

"He's right next to her."

Of course he is.

Fuck you, Nicholas. Fuck you.

I narrow my eyes, "Nick, _someone _somewhere is looking for you and you better go find them."

The girl he was dancing with is sending me weird, suspicious looks by now but I could not give a fuck right now so I ignore her.

He sighs. "Tell them to go out to the backyard and I'll be right out."

"Fine."

:] –

**Do you hate me? I hate me. I should have posted this a long time ago. :/**

**I'm sorry, but it's here now and I hope you liked it. And I will try my best to put up the next chapter as soon as I can. :)**

**Reviews?**


	12. Cold Crush

**Chapter Twelve**

_You walk across the room, I see you look at me.  
I sneak a look at you, is that a sign?  
Though this ain't the way this ain't the rules,  
I'm not gonna let you slip away._

I'm sitting on one of the white plastic chairs strewn across the backyard, waiting for Nick to come around.

I've been waiting for a good ten minutes though, so where the hell is he?

I'm about to go back in and find him myself for the second time that night, but before I can, he's there. He walks out into the yard and closes the door behind him. He stops a few feet away from me, hands in his pockets and just stares at me.

God, I missed him so much. Why did staying away from him have to be so hard? I mean, I was doing pretty Ok until I saw him with that other girl. The nerve.

Before I know it, I'm on my feet and I've covered the remaining few feet between us. His hands slip out of his pockets because he must have thought that I was trying to hug him or something, but imagine his surprise when my hand goes to his cheek, slapping it.

Hell, _I _was surprised I did that.

"Ow!" He gasps, rubbing his cheek; then he stops and glares at me, "What the hell was that for?"

"For flirting with a girl that wasn't me."

He shakes his head, "I wasn't flirting, besides, _you _said you didn't want to spend the night with me, what was I supposed to do, sit in a corner, moping by myself?"

"Yes!"

"Ok, if this is what you asked me to come for, I'm going to go."

He turns and I'm immediately overcome by this overwhelming feeling telling me not to let him walk away.

He's almost by the door when I find my voice again. "Please don't go."

He stops and I can hear him sigh.

"I'm s-sorry…" My voice is shaking, probably because I'm trying not to cry. "Please…"

And just like that, he's turned around, walked –or I should say run- back to me and scooped me up in his arms. I almost sob in relief at how good it feels have him hold me like that. It's been way too long. And you might argue that it's just been a day, but it's been a day too long.

My arms are wrapped around his neck and his face is buried into mine. I can feel him press soft soothing kisses on it and feel myself relax. As much as I don't want to, I know we have to talk, so I pull away from him. Just one problem, I don't really know what to say. I don't want to start another fight.

"What's wrong, Miles?"

"Everything…"

He tugs on my hand to make me look at him again, "No, it's not. I was trying to tell you earlier that I was going to tell my parents, but I didn't because I wanted you there with me, you know, before you called my voice… whiny."

Oh.

"I didn't mean that," I mutter.

I mean, of course I didn't. I love his voice, even more than I love him. Ok, that's a lie. Maybe almost as much. Especially when he sings; it's like I'm in heaven. It makes me feel all warm inside. I also get this sudden urge to take him somewhere alone and have my way with him.

Ok, I'm getting sidetracked.

Nick smiles, pulling on the hand he's holding and asking me to come closer. I oblige, letting my hands wrap around his torso with a sigh.

I feel his lips leave a kiss on my head, "Good."

I smile as well, letting the smell of his cologne take over my senses, "Good."

He pulls me off of him. "Do you want to get out of here? We could go back to the house. I mean, the party's almost over, anyways."

I look over to the door, "Won't your parents look for us?"

"We could tell them now if you want."

"No," I say, shaking my head, "Not here. Let's wait until morning. That way, we can leave before they find the weapons to murder me…"

He flashes me a half smile at my lame attempt of a joke.

"Come on," he mutters, grabbing my hand.

I try not to get too disappointed when he drops it again once we get back inside the hall. We find Joe talking to some relation of theirs and pull him aside to tell him that we are leaving. He promises to cover for us and then not very subtly flashes Nick a wink as we're about to leave. Nick rolls his eyes at him and tells him to "get his mind out of the gutter" after which he leads me outside. We stop a passing cab and get in. Nick gives the driver the address and before long, we're at the house.

Nick pays the cabbie and we unlock the doors and walk in. I walk ahead of Nick to the living room as he stays back to turn the lights on. Feeling my way around for the couch, I fall onto it, immediately removing my heels and sighing in relief just as the lights above me come on.

I look up from rubbing my swollen feet to see Nick coming over to me. He falls onto the couch just as I had next to me.

"It's so quiet in here, isn't it?"

Nick hums, "If Frankie or Joe were here, it'd be different."

I smile, sliding my hand over to where his lies and running my thumb over the back of it, "I kind of like it."

He laughs, intertwining our fingers, "I kind of like _you_."

"Only kind of?"

He shakes his head, "I really like you. And right now, I'd really _like_ to kiss you."

And with that, he takes me completely by surprise by pouncing on top of me, making my head fall back onto the armrest. Before I can think of something smart and witty to say, his lips are on mine, making me forget all about it.

His fingers dig into my hips as he I open my mouth up to allow his tongue to commence its battle against my own. A low moan erupts from his throat when my fingers go to his hair and tug on those glorious curls. I smile against his lips, bringing my hands to his tie instead and tugging on it to get it to loosen.

Once I've managed to do that, I get onto the next task on hand, which is getting him out of that shirt and to do that, I will have to undo all of those buttons and I'm doing just that when I feel his lips leave mine.

I groan at the loss of contact, momentarily stopping at the fourth button and looking up at him.

He's got a smirk plastered onto his face as he says, "Whatcha doin', Miles?"

"Getting this stupid shirt off of you," I tell him, returning to doing just that, "Do you mind?"

"No," he shakes his head, "However, I do think that this is not the place for it."

"There's no one here," I tell him, looking around for emphasis.

"I know, but they could come home any minute now."

I sigh in annoyance, although satisfied that I'd gotten to the last button. I push it aside and groan once again when I find that he's got a wife beater underneath.

Figures, he would just wear it to annoy me.

I tug on it, trying to get it to come out from where he'd tucked it into his pants

"_Miles."_

"Fine. Let's go to your room, then."

He's immediately on his feet at the suggestion. He's halfway across the room when he looks back and realizes I haven't moved.

"Aren't you coming?"

"My feet hurt… Will you carry me?"

He smiles, coming back over to me and sliding his arms underneath, easily picking me up. My arms go around his neck, holding on to him tight.

"Relax; I'm not going to drop you."

"I know," I mutter.

"Then why are you holding on so tight?" he asks with a laugh.

"Because I want to."

He doesn't say anything else as he carries me into the room and then he gently lowers me down onto his bed. I reluctantly let go of him as he kicks his shoes off and turns the lamp on before coming back over to the bed and climbing over me.

I grin, reaching up for him and pulling him down so I can kiss him, but it seems like he had other plans. His lips make a beeline for my neck.

"Oh!"

I can't help but let out a little gasp when I feel him sucking on that spot that he knows drives me crazy.

"_Nick_."

His name falls from my lips in a low whisper as I tug at his hair, trying to get him to stop. But he doesn't listen, not that I expected him to, really. He's just so damn stubborn.

"Nick, you're going to leave a mark," I say, tugging on his hair once again.

"So what?" he says, stopping for a second.

I hold him off before he can reach my neck again, "So, the media is going to have a field day, not to mention your parents will probably kill me."

"Will you stop with that, my parents love you."

"Yeah, because they think we're not together."

"Miles, they're going to be happy for us."

He doesn't let me say another word as he leans down in a flash and kisses me. Uh, he knows just how to distract me. I can't complain, though. I love the way his lips feel on mine. But right now, I'm finding it a bit difficult to breathe. I push on his chest, but he's not having any of it so I muster all of my strength and push him onto his back, climbing on top of him and straddling his hips.

"Woah, what was that?"

I smile, tugging on his shirt, glad that I'd already unbuttoned it all the way, "You need to get out of this."

He leans up on his elbow and allows me to take it off of him. Before he can fall back down, I pull the wife beater off as well, leaving him shirtless. My eyes rake over his torso, taking in the perfection that he is, before landing on his face, and most particularly those luscious pink lips.

"Like what you see?"

"Yes."

He laughs, because I'm guessing he wasn't expecting that answer. He was probably expecting me to say something teasing or insulting, but I'm not in the mood for talking.

"Mi-" he begins to say but I shush him. I lean down and kiss him once again, bringing his hands to my hips to let him know that I want his hands on me. His hands run up and down my sides as we continue kissing. A few minutes later, I feel his hands run up and down my back as if searching for something.

He groans, and I sit back, laughing at his frustration at whatever it is that he's frustrated at. He sits up with me, leaning on one elbow, while the other hand still roams my back.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"Where the hell is the damn zipper on this thing?"

I laugh again, bringing his hand to the right side where the zipper is located.

"Oh," he says, holding on to it. And then he begins to slide it down slowly. Too slowly if you ask me. My eyes are trained on his and his are on mine. Even when he's finished unzipping the dress, he doesn't look away. His hands go to the hem of my dress and he pushes it up. Taking the hint, I raise my arms, letting him take it off of me. His eyes dart down to the newly exposed skin and then back up to my eyes.

My fingers run across his cheek before I cup it in my palm and lean down to kiss him, which he very eagerly reciprocates to.

We're both so focused on each other that we do not hear the door opening downstairs or the footsteps on the stairs until someone is knocking on the door.

I pull away from him, jumping in surprise. My eyes grow wide and his face reflects the panic in mine. I scramble to my feet, but my leg gets caught on the blanket, causing me to fall back onto the bed. Nick's already on his feet though, trying to find his shirt.

"Nicholas, Joe says you're not feeling well, are you Ok?" I hear his mom's voice say.

"No, mom, I-" he begins but before he could get anything else out, the door has opened and there stands a bewildered looking Denise. All of us freeze. Her eyes dart from Nick to me, and then back to Nick. And then she's looking at me again and I can't help but notice how her face has hardened.

"Nick, downstairs, now."

:|-

**Hello, my dear readers. :) **

**Ok, so what is the deal with this Wedding Bells thing? When I first saw the lyrics, I was like "yaayyyy Niley" and then when I heard the speech I was like, "why, Nick, why?" And then I read what everyone was saying about it and am now really very confused what to feel about it. **

**Anyways, reviews?**

**Bye. :)**


	13. Do You Want to Know a Secret?

**Chapter Thirteen**

_Listen, do you want to know a secret?_  
_Do you promise not to tell?_  
_Closer, let me whisper in your ear,_  
_Say the words you long to hear..._

I'm sitting on the bus, looking out the window and trying to be as discreet as possible while spying on Joe who's saying goodbye to his mother, despite the fact that we aren't supposed to be leaving for another hour and half. Selena and Demi have already said theirs, but I haven't really spoken to Denise or Paul since I refused to go with Nick last night when his mother caught us to "explain" what was going on.

_I sit at the edge of the bed, my head in my hands while I watch Nick stumble around the room for his shirt. _

_The past few minutes have been of absolute chaos; first his mother had walked straight into the room, catching us in a very compromising position and then ordered for us to come downstairs and the second she'd left, Nick had practically sprung up and starting pacing around the room in full on panic mode._

"_Nick," I say, trying to get his attention but he won't even look at me. _

"_Nick," I repeat. _

_Still no answer so I repeat his name for the third time. "Nick!"_

"_What?" he says whipping around to look at me finally._

"_Will you relax?"_

"_Relax? Are you serious?"_

_He gives me a look so incredulous that you would have thought that I suggested he cut his head off and run around in circles. I don't like the look he's sending my way either, so different from the way he was looking at me a few minutes ago, which was probably why I said what I did next._

"_This _is _all your fault."_

"_How is it my fault? I told you we were going to get caught."_

_I roll my eyes, "If you had told your parents about us earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."_

"_We're back to that, seriously, Miley?"_

"_Yes, we are back to that."_

_He shakes his head. "We can have this argument later, but right now could you please put your dress back on so we can go downstairs."_

_I stand up, crossing my arms, "I'm not going."_

"_What?"_

"_You heard me; they're not my parents, I don't have to explain anything to them."_

"_Why are you doing this?" he says, complete with a sigh and a run off his fingers through his hair._

_I shrug, "You do realize you're twenty years old now and your parents can't tell you what to do anymore, right?"_

"_Of course I know that, but that doesn't mean what they think isn't important to me."_

"_Then you go; I don't have to."_

_He stares at me for a few moments and then his shoulders slump with a sigh. He finishes buttoning up the last few buttons on his shirt and then he's gone with a loud slam of the door that makes me jump, leaving me all alone in his room with my thoughts. _

These past few days have been a mixture of emotions. At first I was happy, then I found out that that happiness had been temporary and based on lies, I had gotten depressed, then scared that once the truth did come out, it wouldn't be as pretty a situation as I thought it would be at first, then I had been happy for a very short while before that had been pretty much ruined as well. And now, I just don't really know what to feel anymore.

Last night I had been angry at Nick and his mother for barging in on us like that and had not cared, which is why I'd refused to go with Nick.

Now I wish I had sucked up my pride and gone to have that talk with Nick's parents, because now I realize that no matter how old we get, family will always be very important to Nick, just as it is for me. The only thing is, my family lets me be a bit crazier than his does him.

I can't wait to get out of here because I have never felt more out of place in my life.

I don't know how things are going to be between Nick and I when we do leave but the farther away we get from this place, the easier it will be to get him on my side. I haven't spoken to him since last night and I can tell he's still pretty angry at me, though, which doesn't really make me feel better.

"Hey, you Ok?"

I look away from the yard in which Joe is now hugging Denise for what must be the fiftieth time (Nick is nowhere to be seen) at Selena, who's just seated herself next to me.

I shake my head.

"It's going to be Ok, right? I mean it's you and Nick, you guys always run back to each other."

I give her a half smile to thank her for attempting to make me feel better but that doesn't really help the crappy feeling inside of me go away, so it just comes out looking like as if I'm constipated or something.

"Hey," she tries again, poking at my arm, "Nobody died."

"It feels like that, though."

Before she can say anything, we hear a voice yell my name from the door. I push myself off my seat and go over to see Joe standing at the steps, looking up at me.

"What?"

"Mom wanted me to ask you if she could speak to you."

My eyes widen, "What? No way!"

"Come on, Miles, it won't be that bad."

"Oh, but it will."

"You don't know that," chips in Selena from behind.

I shrug, "She probably hates me right now, especially after last night."

I tried arguing with them, but the both of them practically manhandled me all the way to the kitchen, where Denise was. Still no sign of Nick. They pushed me in through the back door and shut the door, which made Denise turn around to see me.

"Oh, Miley, I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, uh… Hey, Mrs. Jonas."

She gives me a small smile and motions for me to sit down at one of the chairs at the counter. A minute later, she puts a bowl of strawberries in front of me next to the cutting board along with a knife. I look up at her in confusion.

"Could you do me a favour and cut those up?"

I blink, perplexed. Did she really ask to see me so she could ask me to cut up a bunch of strawberries?

"Uh… sure…" I mutter, picking the knife up gingerly.

A few minutes into slicing the strawberries is when I hear Denise speak again.

"So, Miley," I look up from the fruit, "Nick tells me you guys are dating again."

I don't know what to say so I nod.

"He also told me that you were pretty upset with him. You shouldn't be. Boys are stupid sometimes. Actually, a lot of times."

I clear my throat, trying to find my voice, "Wh-Where is he?"

"He's gone for a check-up at the doctor's with his father."

Oh. How horrible of a girlfriend am I that I don't even know that my boyfriend's at the doctor's?

"Is he Ok?"

"Yes, he's fine. I just wanted him to go have a check-up just in case."

"I'm sorry," I blurt out.

"For what?"

"For last night. I was… upset and I wasn't thinking. And I just got scared that you would hate me and…"

"I would never hate you, Miley. At first I thought that this was a bad idea because you both have broken up so many times and I have seen how much it has hurt the both of you, but then Nick told me how much you mean to him, not that I didn't know. He told me how he feels when he's with you and Joe and Demi and Selena all told me how happy he's been all tour; and when he was telling me about you, it made me feel almost like he was fifteen again."

I blink, trying to rid myself of the tears. It seems I have lost my ability to form words again.

"Nick is short-tempered and stubborn and also the most sensitive out of all my boys, of course you know that. He is also the sweetest boy ever, or should I say man, I could never get used to calling my sons that because, well, they'll always be my boys to me."

I nod. Still no progress on the words thing.

"You know when you guys were younger, everyone thought you would end up together, and then you guys went through this huge phase of not talking to each other and I began to wonder if we'd been wrong. I had even begun to accept that and then you guys took us completely by surprise… again."

When I had told my mom about Nick and I dating again, all she had said was "That's great, but make sure you don't get hurt like you did before," and then there had been my dad yelling from the background asking me to tell him to never break my heart again or he'd break his bones, which I'd disregarded as a joke the minute the phone call had ended but the things Denise was saying right now were making me go crazy.

But only when she laughs suddenly, "Look at us, crying like a bunch of saps," do I notice the tear running down her cheek as well.

I laugh along with her, wiping away my tears. "Thanks, Mrs. Jonas."

"Denise, sweetheart."

I nod, "Thanks, Denise."

As if on cue, we hear a car pulling into the garage and a couple minutes later, Nick and his father walk in. The minute Nick's eyes land on me, his face falls. The corners of his mouth dip downwards and he looks pretty mad at me.

But hearing all those things from Denise just a few minutes ago makes me think that maybe he's not as angry as he is sad and that breaks my heart.

Denise greets them and asks them about how the doctor's meeting went and Nick's eyes are away from me and onto his mother as he tells her that everything was fine and that she didn't have to make him go. My eyes don't waver for a second from him.

And as I watch him, all I can think is, I love him.

Honestly, I don't care that he's mad at me, or that maybe I was supposed to be mad at him or that we haven't spoken since he slammed the door in my face last night, just that I love him.

I love him.

I want to shout it from the rooftop. I want to shout, "I LOVE YOU, NICK JONAS!" at the top of my voice.

I've always loved him, ever since I was thirteen but I have not felt this way probably since then. It's a feeling that is very much welcome. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Denise and Paul walk off to the living room as they discuss something, leaving Nick with nothing to do and considering we aren't supposed to be talking, he walks towards the door to leave. But before he can, I'm on my feet and next to him, grabbing his hand.

He stops and looks at me in surprise. My arms slip easily around his torso as I hug him as tightly as I possibly can, leaning against his chest so I can hear his heart beat. After a moment, I feel his arms wrap around me as well.

"Miles?" I hear his voice question.

My head lifts off his chest and I look up at his beautiful brown -unsure- eyes.

"I love you."

He freezes and then a slow smile spreads across his face. It's not like it's the first time I've ever said that to him, but it is the first time since we got back together.

"Wow, Miles, thanks. I… don't know what to say, I…"

My smile drops and my arms loosen as I realize he didn't say it back.

To say that I'm disappointed would not cover the least. I wanted to shout it from the rooftop, but he doesn't, not yet. But we'll get there, right? Nevertheless, that doesn't stop my arms from going limp at my sides as I look down at my feet, trying to blink back the tears.

"I'm just kidding," I hear him say and whip my head up to meet his grin; "Miles, I love you, too."

"What?" I smack his arm, "That was _not _nice, asshole."

He laughs, "I love you, Miley."

"I hate you," I tell him, staring him down.

He starts to move backwards towards the door, "I love you so much, beautiful."

"Shut up."

"But I love you."

I shake my head, "You are in so much trouble."

"Whatever you say, baby," he says and before I can say anything else, he's turned around and is sprinting across the yard. Once I've managed to recover from the initial shock, I take off as well, chasing him, as he calls to me teasingly to say how I would never be able to catch him.

:D -

**Hello. So I've been MIA for like the past two months. Anyone notice? No? Ok, uh, cool. :D **

**Anyways, can't really give you much of an excuse other than LIFE and also just wanted to say that I'm finally on break and that maybe, possibly, hopefully, it won't take me another two months to put out another chapter… maybe, possibly, hopefully. ;) **

**Reviews?**


	14. Hold My Hand

**Chapter Fourteen**

_When it gets dark and when it gets cold  
We hold each other 'til we see the sun light_

After finishing rehearsal that day, I bounce off stage and plop myself down on the chair next to Nick with an exaggerated sigh where he's messing around with his guitar. He looks at me and laughs and flash him a grin. He goes back to randomly strumming the guitar and I watch him.

"New song?"

He looks up at me, "Kind of. I've had this melody stuck in my head for the past few days but I can't quite figure it out properly. Want to help me?"

"I would love to, but I can't. I have an interview in a while. Maybe later?"

He looks up at me, pouting, "We're still having lunch together, right?"

"Uh-huh. Oh and Selena is coming, too. And Demi. And Joe too, probably."

He groans, "Can we at least hang out for a little bit around here?"

"Probably not."

"Make out?"

I laugh, glancing at him. "Rain check for tonight?"

He sighs, putting on a show, "Fine. It's just that my lips are getting a little too parched and I thought you could help me."

I roll my eyes, "I'm sure you can survive a few more hours."

"I mean, it's whatever," he keeps muttering, a mischievous smile growing on his face, "Maybe I'll get Selena to help me instead."

I sit up, narrowing my eyes at him, "I will break your balls off, Nick Jonas."

He's laughing but I hope he knows I'm dead serious.

:] -

Later that night, I walk off stage with the rest of the gang after having taken our bows and saying goodnight to the crowd. I was pretty exhausted but at the same time still had the adrenaline of being on stage pumping through my veins. I felt like I was on a sugar rush. I grab a bottle of water and take long swig out of it before heading to my dressing room to get slightly refreshed before we all had to head out again. Once I reach the room with my name on the door, I walk in, only to find that Nick's already there before me.

"Hey."

He walks over to me, shutting the door before sliding the lock home. I watch him with an amused but at the same time confused smile. He turns back to me with his eyes twinkling mischievously and a big grin on his face.

"What're you going to do to me?" I say with a nervous laugh.

"I was just wondering if it was 'later' yet…" His hands reach for my ass as he says this, making my eyes go wide with surprise. Nick's never like this. It's kind of hot.

All I can say is, "Um…"

His hand slides into my back pocket as he leans closer and before I know it, he's kissing me. Usually, our kisses start out slow and sweet and gradually build up but tonight, Nick was having none of that. His tongue almost immediately prods at my lips impatiently and I'm more than welcome to grant him permission. My hands go up and around his neck, pulling him as close to me as I possibly could. I feel my back bump onto the door and hadn't even realized we'd been moving. That was how entranced I was by that kiss.

When I absolutely cannot take it anymore, I push him off me, breathing heavily and trying to catch my breath. He instantly leans back in and I push on his chest, laughing while still struggling to breath.

"Whoa, buddy. Slow… slow down. W-where's the fi-fire?"

He grins, "No fire. I just want to kiss my beautiful, amazing girlfriend who's been driving me crazy with those tight leather pants that make her killer legs look irresistible all night. Is that a crime?"

I smile, "No, but if you keep doing it like that I might die of a heart attack and that might be a crime."

He laughs, finally letting go of me.

"What's gotten into you today?" I ask as I watch him walk over to the couch and collapse on it.

He shrugs, motioning for me to go lie down next to him, which I do. His hands reach around my waist and he pulls me closer to him, making me rest my head on his chest. It would be the most adorable thing if we weren't both so sweaty and smelly right now.

"You stink," I say, crinkling my nose.

"Oh, yeah? So do you!"

I pretend to me offended, "I cannot believe you just said that."

"Well, you said it first."

"Take it back."

"You take it back. Say 'Nick Jonas is the most amazing smelling guy in the world'."

"Don't make me a liar, Nick Jonas."

He flips over so that now I'm the only one lying down and he's hovering over me. "Say it."

"Make me."

He grins, knowing that this was where it was going to end at eventually. And just like that he's kissing me again. I make a scene of trying to keep him off but eventually give in because both of us know I'm not really going to refuse to let him kiss me.

I mean, you've seen him; would you refuse to kiss him?

Plus I love him, so I guess I'll have to learn to live with the stink.

Although that's the last thing I'm thinking when Nick's lips are on mine and he's kissing me like there's not going to be a tomorrow. Just when we're about to really get into it, there's a knock on the door. Nick's pretending to not have heard it but the third time the person behind the door knocks, I push at his chest to break us apart. He makes a face at me.

"Who is it?" I call over my shoulder.

"It's Joe, open up. Is Nick in there with you, I can't find him anywhere?"

I debate for just a moment if to tell him the truth or lie. If I lie and tell him Nick's not here, he might go away and leave us alone again. Or he might still demand I open the door. Before I can make up my mind, though, Nick's trying to kiss me again. I hold him off once again.

"Miley?" comes Joe's voice again.

He groans quietly, "Just ignore him."

He tries to kiss me again, this time the target being my neck but I force his head to stay up.

"I can't, he already knows I'm in here. And he's probably figured out you're in here with me, too by now."

"Great. You couldn't have just kept your big mouth shut when he knocked?"

I give him a look. Is he serious?

I push him off completely before standing up and straightening my shirt before going over to the door and opening it to find Joe standing there, bouncing from one leg to another impatiently.

"Finally! Is Nick here?"

"Yeah, he's inside."

Joe brushes past me into my dressing room and I sneak a glance at Nick who looks very displeased. Oh, awesome. Now I'm going to have to deal with cranky Nick. Although I'm sure if Joe leaves soon enough, I might be able to divert the crisis.

"What'd you want, Joe?"

"I was just coming to ask you guys if you wanted to come out with Demi, Selena and I, we're going to a club."

"Oooh, that sounds-"

"I'll pass," cuts in Nick's uninterested voice, "So does Miley, right?"

I frown in his direction. Who made him the boss of me? "Actually, I was about to say that sounds fun. Why don't you want to go, Nick?"

"Yeah, why don't you want to go, Nick?" Joe repeats.

"You know why," he counters, trying to send me what he thinks is a subtle look. I hold his gaze, challenging him. I know what he means; he just doesn't want to say it out loud because it might sound sleazy.

"No, why?" Joe asks, completely oblivious.

Nick sighs, giving up and looking away. "I'm tired."

"Ok, grandpa. I'll see you in a while, Miley."

I nod as Joe leaves and follow him to the door to shut it. Once it's closed, I turn back to Nick.

"What was that?"

"What?" he says, as if innocent.

I narrow my eyes, "That. I don't like the way you were acting, Nick."

"I wasn't acting like anything. Let's go. Shouldn't we get ready; I thought you wanted to go out with the others?"

I stare at him in surprise. "I thought you weren't coming?"

"Yeah, well I changed my mind."

:| –

"I thought you weren't coming?"

"I already told you, Joe, I changed my mind."

"But then why say no in the first place?"

"I don't know."

"That's not an answer to my question."

"Why the fuck does it matter?"

"I just wanted to know, geez, Nicholas, calm down."

I can tell Nick's at the point of blowing up and Joe is just making it worse. I can't tell if he's doing it on purpose or not, so I intervene, just so I can get the both of them to shut up. I mean, I'm the one stuck between them. Demi's driving and Selena's in the passenger seat up front and I'm stuck in the back seat with Nick on one side and Joe on the other.

"Joe, just let it go, Ok?"

"Fine, I was just curious, you know. Your hot-headed boyfriend doesn't have to get his panties all up in a knot," he was muttering.

"_Joe._"

Why are boys so infuriating?

The car falls silent and it's not even one of those comfortable silence type things. Oh no, it's really awkward. I can tell Nick's not happy about being here and I don't understand why he insisted on coming after saying he didn't want to go. I mean, it's just bringing everyone else's mood down. Thankfully, Demi puts on some very loud music and the rest of the ride goes by without much event.

When we finally arrive at the club, Demi parks the car and we're all getting out when I feel Nick's hand slide into mine. I look up at him in surprise because he's barely acknowledged me the entire ride while he looked out of the window and now he was clutching my hand like a lifeline. He's not looking at me, though because he's stepping outside and dragging me along as well since he has such a tight grip on my hand.

I tug on his hand once we're walking towards the entrance. He looks at me.

"Is everything alright?" I ask him.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're kind of hurting my hand," I say, trying to give him a small smile.

"Oh," he says and looks down at our hands and a second later his death grip loosens, "Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that."

I smile, for real this time, although I still am a little confused, I decide to let it go. "It's Ok."

We make our way inside and the music is so loud and people are dancing. We all head towards the bar and order our drinks. Nick reminds us that none of us except Joe are allowed to drink but all Joe had to do was make that 'grandpa' comment once again for him to shut up. Selena turns down alcohol and offers to be the designated driver, and the rest of us agree because one of us driving with alcohol in us would be a very bad idea.

I tug my hand loose from Nick's and after resisting a little at first, he let's go. I give him a look and he ignores me. Our drinks arrive and rolling my eyes, I reach for mine and finish half of it in a couple seconds.

"You want to dance, Nick?"

"No thanks."

"Why don't you want to dance?"

"Because I didn't even want to come in the first place."

I frown, "Then why did you? No one was forcing you."

Nick doesn't reply. Fine, if he wants to be all cold and stupid tonight, I'll just pretend he's not even here. He's really pissing me off, though. I don't understand why he's acting like this. I push Nick out of my mind and focus on having fun tonight. After I finish my drink, I order another one and then grab Demi and Selena out to the dance floor. If Nick won't dance with me, I'll just dance with my girl friends, I don't even care.

Except I probably couldn't wrap my arms around Demi or Selena. Or kiss them. That would be weird. But whatever, it doesn't even make a difference.

We stay out there a long time, song after song dancing and giggling and singing out of tune on purpose. I've almost forgotten about Nick when my gaze drifts over to where we left him and Joe last and sure enough, I find him in the exact same spot, a beer in hand, looking as miserable as ever. Joe is nowhere to be seen, though so I guess he must have found someone to dance with. That or he didn't want to be around Nick and his grouchiness which I don't blame him for.

But I can't help but feel a little tug at my heart watching him. He looks so miserable. He looks up and catches my gaze but looks away swiftly. Somehow I can't help but feel that something's bothering him.

I sigh, excusing myself from the girls and make my way over to where Nick is. He looks up when he feels me slip into the chair next to his.

"Hi," I say.

"Hi," he replies.

"You alright?"

He looks at me, "Yeah, perfect. Can't you see how happy I am?"

Is he slurring? Is he drunk?

"Are you drunk?" I ask him incredulously.

Oh, who am I kidding, he's been sitting all by himself at a club for the past hour or so. Of course he's drunk.

"No."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Ok, maybe just a little," he agrees. "What did you expect; I had nothing else to do!"

I smile despite myself. I decide to approach the subject gently because he's drunk and if cranky Nick is not fun to be around, cranky _drunk _Nick would probably be unbearable.

"Well, why did you come if you didn't want to so bad?"

"Cause I wanted to be with you, Miley. We've been so busy these past few days and haven't really been with each other much."

I frown, "What are you talking about, we're practically together twenty-four seven."

"Yes, but there are also others around. In the nights, we're driving around in a tour bus and in the mornings we have sound checks and interviews and photo shoots and a hundred other things. I missed you. I just thought that tonight we'd get to spend together and when my plans were interrupted tonight, it just pissed me off."

I stare at him. He's right. We hadn't spent any quality time alone together since New Jersey. We hadn't even kissed properly before tonight.

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"Because Joe was there, and then you were mad at me and I just… I don't know…"

I reach forward and grab his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't notice."

He shakes his head, "It's not your fault. I should've just told you."

"Well, we're here now. Let's make the most of it?"

Nick's forehead crinkles in confusion. I motion towards the dance floor and giggle when I hear him groan but I'm already out of my chair and dragging him along with me. Once we're amidst all the other dancing bodies, I wrap my arms around his neck, despite the fact that there's a fast song playing. I just want to be close to him. He smiles as his hands jump to my waist as we sway to the music.

"Let's go out tomorrow, just you and me."

I lean back slightly to look at him, surprised, "Like a date? A real one?"

He smiles and nods.

"Where would we go?"

"It doesn't matter," he says, "Just as long as you're with me, we could go anywhere, we could go to Pizza Hut for all I care."

I grin, nudging his head closer to mine so I can kiss him. How does he say all the perfectly right things?

:] –

**Hello. :) See? I told you I wouldn't take two months. :p I kind of know what I want to happen in the next chapter and that's a good thing because that means all I have to do is write it down. **

**But I just wanted to ask if you guys have any ideas or thoughts on what should happen next. If you do, leave it in a review. Even if you don't, leave me a review just to know that you reading and that you like what you're reading? It's always nice to hear from readers. :)**


	15. Meteor Shower

_I can finally see,  
That you're right there beside me._

The sun in my face is what wakes me the next day and the first thing I think is 'How the hell is it morning already?' It was very, _very _late last night when we finally fell asleep after getting back from the club.

Also, whose 'bright' idea was it to leave the curtains open?

Nick's still sound asleep, though. He would sleep through a grenade, have I mentioned that before? I turn my head away from the sunlight and force my eyes close, willing myself to go back to sleep but it's not working. A few minutes later, I give up and get out of bed.

I wash my face and brush my teeth before heading outside so I can get my morning dose of caffeine. I make my way downstairs to the dining area and order a cup of coffee and then bring it to one of the tables. Sipping on it, I pick up the newspaper that has been laid out just like on every other table and scan through it without really reading it. That is, until a picture makes me stop mid-sip.

There in huge bold letters is the headline 'NILEY BACK TOGETHER?'

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Underneath the headline is a picture of us at the club last night. We're at the dance floor, my arms are wrapped around him and his hands are on my ass -which in his defense, he was drunk!- and we're kissing. Putting my coffee down, I straighten the paper so I can read the article.

'_Mega-superstars Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas who just turned twenty a while ago were seen late last night at a club looking incredibly cozy. They were dancing and kissing the whole time and left very late and some people who were there have even said they looked like they might have been drunk. They are currently on a country-wide tour along with Nick's brother Joe and other ex-Disney stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. Everyone knows these two have a very colourful history and to be completely honest we can't really say we're surprised, especially since Miley and her fiancé broke up just before this tour. What also doesn't surprise us is being informed by a source that Miley's been influencing Nick in well, not so good ways. And if this picture isn't an indication of that, we don't know what is! _

_But the real question is, is Niley back together and will it last at least this time?'_

I have to control my urge to roll my eyes. Also to rip that paper to shreds.

Leaving my half empty cup of coffee, I pick the newspaper up and walk towards the elevator and a couple minutes later, I'm in front of our hotel room. Opening the door using the card, I slip inside and drop it onto the table beside the door before walking into the bedroom to find the bed empty.

"Babe?" I call out.

"In here!" comes his reply from the bathroom.

I sigh, walking back out and collapsing on the couch, exhausted already. A couple minutes later, Nick walks out of the bedroom himself, and he looks, well, hung-over. He lies down on the couch with his head resting on the arm rest, and shrinks into a ball.

"My head hurts," he pouts.

"Aw, I'm sorry, is my baby having a hangover?"

He nods slowly, "Where'd you go?"

"I went to get some coffee."

He frowns, "Couldn't have thought to bring some back for me?"

I sigh, "I was going to, but-"

"But what?"

I sigh again and hand him the paper without answering him. He frowns a first like I might be insane for thinking the first thing he wants to do in the morning when his head is probably throbbing is read the newspaper, but I turn it to the article and fold it, shoving it into his hands.

His eyes widen at the sight of the picture and I watch while he reads the article. Then he drops it.

"My head hurts even more now."

"What're we supposed to do now?"

"What do you mean?" he says.

"Well, you know they're not going to leave us alone, right? They'll follow us around and ask us questions and criticize us and God knows what else."

"But they already do that."

"Yeah, but now it's going to be a thousand times worse."

"Miles, we couldn't have kept this a secret forever, you know. Eventually we would have had to tell the world and so what if it's just a bit earlier than we planned?"

I look at him in shock. Did Nick Jonas really just say that? I mean, it's always him that wants to keep everything a secret so I thought he would get really upset when he saw the paper, but he's not freaking out. Why the hell is he not freaking out?

I'd much rather he freak out so that I can be calm, sane one.

"Who are you and what have you done with Nick Jonas?"

He offers me a smile, "I love you. I know that, you know that, so why should it matter if the rest of the world knows as well?"

"Because they don't need to. Because they always ruin it, they always ruin everything."

"Not this time, Ok?" he says, trying to look me in the eye but I keep staring at the floor because for some reason, I have a hard time believing that.

:| -

"Are they still there?"

Demi peeks over the window and then looks back over at me apologetically. I sigh, sinking deeper into the couch. Thanks to the stupid paparazzi, I had to spend my day off cooped up in this stupid hotel room. Seriously, why can't they just leave me alone?

Demi walks back over to me and sits down on the other chair. "What's the matter with you, Miles; they've never bothered you before."

I give her a look, "They've always bothered me."

"What I meant was, you've never let them stop you from what you wanted to do before."

"Yeah but this time it's different."

"Why, because it's you and Nick?"

I shrug. I don't know why I did it but I'd turned on my computer and went on the internet. The amount of stories and rumours and comments had overwhelmed me. And the amount of hate comments, although I can't say really surprised me, definitely hit a nerve somewhere. It just wasn't fair because it was no one's business except mine and Nick's, really. I don't know why but I'd kept reading and reading and reading until I'd felt numb. Then I'd shut the computer and gone and lay down on the couch. I haven't moved ever since.

"_Miley._"

"It's just so stupid, Demi. Stupid and unfair."

"I know."

Demi doesn't say anything else. I guess she doesn't understand why I'm acting like a depressed teenager. I don't either. All I know is that there is this dull ache in my heart and it's not making me feel very good.

It's a good fifteen minutes of awkward silence later when the door opens. I look up to see Nick.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey," I reply monotonously.

I can see the looks passing between Nick and Demi but I ignore them, staring at the muted TV screen that's been playing all along. That is, until the view is cut off by Nick kneeling in front of me.

"Why aren't you dressed, Miles?"

I frown, "Why, I'm not going anywhere."

"What about our date?"

"What date?"

"The one we made last night."

I sigh, sitting up, "I'm not going."

"Well, I can't go alone. It might be kind of sad."

I smile at his attempt at a joke. "Why can't we just stay in?"

"But you got so excited when I suggested it last night. I thought you wanted to go."

"I don't anymore."

Nick sighs, "What's the problem, Miles?"

"The problem is that there are like a hundred or so creeps waiting out there to take our picture so they can plaster it all over the tabloids and spread more lies about me!"

"They're going to spread lies about me too."

I shook my head, "You don't understand. It's me who they hate; it's me they're going to call ugly and talentless and slutty. You'll just be the one who got caught up with me, they'll make you out to be some sort of victim, they'll make it seem like I'm forcing you to be with me."

"But you know that's not true."

"But that doesn't matter."

Nick's eyes flash up to me in surprise. "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Of course it matters! I'm trying to tell you what matters and what doesn't but you're not listening!"

"You said the same thing the last time around, you promised that you'll always love me, but do you not remember what happened? We broke up. Again and again."

"But I kept promise, didn't I? I loved you then, I love you now and I'll always love you."

I felt my lips curve slightly. "Don't steal my words."

He cracked a smile, "Besides, the last time around I was a stupid teenager. Teenagers are stupid like that."

"You stopped being a teenager just only a couple months ago."

He grins up at me, "Exactly. I'm not stupid anymore. I'm not going to let you go this time."

I sigh, "Fine. I'll go but if tonight's ruined, it's your fault for not listening to me."

"Don't worry; it's going to be fine."

I glance up at him. I'm still not convinced, though. I've had a lifetime of things being ruined by the media.

He stands up, and pulls me with him, "We're going to be late, let's go! You have ten minutes to get ready."

My eyes widen, "Are you crazy? Thirty minutes!"

"Ten."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-five."

"What, that's not how negotiating works!" He sighs, "Fine, but not a minute longer."

I roll my eyes as he grabs my sides and leaves a peck on my lips before dashing out.

:] –

I survey myself in the mirror. Nick hadn't said if we were doing fancy or casual so I had settled for semi-casual with skinny jeans and a sparkly top. Anyway, the initial plan was to go to Pizza Hut or something, right? So, this should work just fine.

It's been about forty-five minutes since Nick left though and he was back promptly at the time he said he would be and now Demi's out there, keeping him occupied although I imagine he's growing more and more impatient by the second.

I adjust my hair one last time in front of the mirror and pick up my bag, walking outside of the room.

He stops pacing as soon as his eyes land on me.

"You broke our deal."

I roll my eyes, "Well, I'm here now, so let's get going!"

He sighs and follows as I go and open the door.

"Bye Demi!" I call out before shutting the door.

We walk to the elevator and I press the button. I shift my weight from one leg to another while we wait for the elevator to come up. We step in once it arrives and I'm glad it's empty. I lean against the wall and stare at my heels.

"Hey," Nick says, poking at the side of my stomach.

I look up, "What?"

"You look really beautiful."

I smile, "Thanks. You know, I would have only looked semi-beautiful if I'd taken only twenty five minutes."

"Not true," he says, shaking his head and flashing me back a smile. I shake my head at him although I'm glad that he said something because I was beginning to feel like this might not be the best idea. He can always make me feel better.

The elevator dings, letting us know that we've arrived at the ground floor. The doors open and the view of the lobby appears in front of us. There are a lot of very serious, important-looking people all around. I step out and look towards the doors and even from here I can make out a couple paparazzi.

Suddenly, I feel nauseous; suffocated even.

I pause for a moment, but then the fog in my head clears. Why should I be afraid of these people? They don't know me and the judgments they make are never true and I've never let them bother me too much so why am I starting now? Why am I letting them stop me from enjoying a date with my boyfriend?

Screw it.

I'm about to walk full-force with my newly resurfaced confidence towards the doors when I feel Nick nudge my side. I look at him and then his outstretched hand.

"Miles," he's saying, "Take my hand."

I do, and I really am glad he's here. At least I'm not alone in this. I have someone.

I have Nick.

:] –

**Sooo… It's been a while. Some things happened that I didn't expect and it me some time to recover. Anyway, I hope you liked it. **

**Also, will you please read the other story kind of thingy I put out called 'Beautiful Things'? Would mean a lot to me. **

**Reviews?**


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